Princes Street railway station
Encyclopedia
Princes Street
Princes Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and its main shopping street. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1 mile from Lothian Road in the west to Leith Street in the east. The street is mostly closed to private...
, in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, for almost 100 years. A temporary station was opened in 1870, with construction of the main station commencing in the 1890s. The station was closed completely in 1965 and largely demolished in 1970. Only its hotel remains, but it is no longer in railway ownership.
The Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian RailwayCaledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century and it was absorbed almost a century later into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, in the 1923 railway grouping, by means of the Railways Act 1921...
company's main line reached Edinburgh, and was ceremonially opened on 15 February 1848. Its initial Edinburgh terminus was located at Lothian Road. The track was extended slightly and the temporary Lothian Road station, opened in 1848, was replaced in 1870 by another temporary station in Princes Street.
Construction of the Princes Street terminus
The 1870 temporary Princes Street station was rebuilt, between 1890 and 1893 to become a grand station with seven platformsRailway platform
A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all stations for rail transport have some form of platforms, with larger stations having multiple platforms...
and an 850 ft long bayed roof.
The Caledonian Hotel, a grand railway hotel, was eventually built above the main entrance of the station and opened, after some construction delays, in 1903. It was built in red sandstone from the west of Scotland and designed in the style of many Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
buildings, leading it to be sometimes deemed "a grand old Glasgow lady come to Edinburgh". At the time of its construction it was much criticised for obstructing the view of the spires of St Marys Cathedral on Palmerston Place, which were previously visible from Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens is a public park in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and the creation of the New Town. The Nor Loch was a large loch in the centre of the city. It was...
.
Mainline and suburban services
The mainline to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, via Carstairs
Carstairs
The name Carstairs refers to a pair of villages located some 4–5 miles east of the town of Lanark in the administrative region of South Lanarkshire in southern Scotland....
, headed southwest from the station, which was later augmented with a number of suburban stops, Merchiston, Slateford, and Kingsnowe, and a branchline to Colinton
Colinton
Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 6 kilometres south west of the city centre. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-west it extends to Lanark Road and to the south-west to the City Bypass...
and Balerno
Balerno
Balerno is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 12 kilometres south west of the city centre, next to Juniper Green and Currie. Administratively, Balerno falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council.- History :...
. The Caledonian railway company later added several other suburban lines serving the north and west of the city, including Barnton
Barnton, Edinburgh
Barnton is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, located to the north-west of the city.It is home to the Royal High School of Edinburgh; the Barnton Hotel; Braehead House, a plain Scots Classical house dating from circa 1700; and The Royal Burgess Golfing Society, one of the oldest golf clubs...
, Davidson's Mains
Davidson's Mains
Davidsons Mains is a former village which is now a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is adjacent to the areas of Barnton, Cramond, Silverknowes, Blackhall and Corbiehill/House O'Hill...
, Granton
Granton, Edinburgh
Granton is a district in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland. Granton forms part of Edinburgh's waterfront along the Firth of Forth and is, historically, an industrial area having a large harbour. Granton is part of Edinburgh's large scale waterfront regeneration programme.-Name:Granton first appears...
, and Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
. By contrast the North British Railway's suburban lines largely served the south and east of the city.
Closure
After nationalisation of the railways in 1948, it was considered logical to concentrate all rail services in Edinburgh on one station. With Waverley StationEdinburgh Waverley railway station
Edinburgh Waverley railway station is the main railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Covering an area of over 25 acres in the centre of the city, it is the second-largest main line railway station in the United Kingdom in terms of area, the largest being...
a short distance along Princes Street beyond Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens is a public park in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and the creation of the New Town. The Nor Loch was a large loch in the centre of the city. It was...
, by the 1960s Princes Street Station was seen as surplus to requirements. Although its street-level entrance was rather more convenient for travellers than that of Waverley (which is in a deep cutting and requires a steep climb to reach street level), the latter was much larger, more conveniently located within the city, and (crucially) had access to the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
. After closure of Princes Street, the west end of the city centre would continue to be served by nearby Haymarket Station
Haymarket railway station
For the Tyne and Wear Metro see Haymarket Metro station.Haymarket railway station is in Haymarket, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is Edinburgh's second largest station after Waverley, a major commuter and long-distance destination, located quite centrally near the West End...
.
Local services were gradually withdrawn, starting with those to Balerno
Balerno railway station
Balerno railway station served the Balerno in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. Services were provided by the Caledonian Railway using the Balerno Loop.-History:...
in 1943, followed by those to Barnton in 1951, Leith North in 1962, and stopping trains on the main line to Carstairs
Carstairs railway station
Carstairs railway station in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, is a major junction station on the West Coast Main Line , situated close to the point at which the lines from London Euston to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh diverge...
in 1964. The remaining services to Glasgow Central, Stirling
Stirling railway station, Scotland
Stirling railway station is a railway station located in Stirling, Scotland.- History :Stirling was first connected to the Scottish Central Railway in 1848. Lines were operated by the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway and the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway...
and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cities were then diverted to Waverley, allowing Princes Street Station to be closed in September 1965. The station was demolished in 1970, with the Western Approach Road being built along the track bed
Track bed
A track bed or trackbed is the term used to describe the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links....
in the early 1970s. However, the Caledonian Hotel still operates on the site and has been renamed the Caledonian Hilton
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast...
. Part of the station space still remains within it and the grand entrance arch is still visible at the side of the hotel. The former Parcels Office lingered, on Lothian Road between the hotel and the Western Approach Road, until a major office development was constructed on its site in the 1990s.