Princes Street railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Princes Street station is not to be confused with former North British Railway's Waverley station, located at the east end of the Princes Street Gardens.
| Edinburgh Princes Street | |||
| Location | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Edinburgh | ||
| Area | Edinburgh | ||
| Operations | |||
| Original company | Caledonian | ||
| Pre-grouping | Caledonian | ||
| Platforms | 7 | ||
| History | |||
| 2 May 1870 | Temporary wooden station opened | ||
| 1890 | Partly destroyed by fire & building work on permanent station started | ||
| 1893 | Permanent station brought into use | ||
| 1903 | Hotel added | ||
| 6 September 1965 | Station Closed | ||
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |||
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Closed railway stations in Britain |
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Princes Street Station was a mainline railway station which stood at the west end of Princes Street, in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 100 years.
The Caledonian Railway company's main line reached Edinburgh, and was ceremonially opened on 15 February 1848.[1] Its initial Edinburgh terminus was located at Lothian Road.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Construction of the Princes Street terminus
The track was extended slightly and the temporary Lothian Road station, opened in 1848, was replaced in 1870 by an another temporary station in Princes Street.[1]
Princes Street station was rebuilt, between 1890 and 1893; to become a grand station with seven platforms and an 850 ft long bayed roof.
The Caledonian Hotel, a grand railway hotel, was built above the main entrance of the station and opened in 1903.
[edit] Mainline and suburban services
The mainline to London, via Carstairs, headed southwest from the station, which was later augmented with a number of suburban stops and a branchline to Colinton and Balerno. The Caledonian railway company later added several other suburban lines serving the north and west of the city, including Barnton, Davidson's Mains, Granton, and Leith. By contrast the North British Railway's suburban lines largely served the south and east of the city.
[edit] Closure
After nationalisation of the railways in 1948, it was logical to concentrate all rail services in Edinburgh on one station. Princes Street station was seen as surplus to requirements by the 1960s. 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), Waverley was much larger, more conveniently located within the city, and (crucially) had access to the East Coast Main Line. After closure of Princes Street, the west end of the city centre would continue to be served by nearby Haymarket station.
Local services were gradually withdrawn, starting with those to Balerno in 1943, followed by those to Barnton in 1951, Leith North in 1962, and stopping trains on the main line to Carstairs in 1964. The remaining services to Glasgow Central, Stirling and English cities were then diverted to Waverley, allowing the station to be closed in 1965 and largely demolished in 1969, with the Western Approach Road being built along the track bed. However, the Caledonian Hotel still remains and has been renamed the Caledonian Hilton hotel. Part of the station space is still contained within it and the grand entrance arch is still visible at the side of the hotel. The former Parcels Office remained, between the hotel and the new road, until a major office development was constructed on its site in the 1990s.
The closure of Princes Street station left Edinburgh Waverley railway station as the main station serving the central district of Edinburgh, with Haymarket railway station a relatively short journey to the west.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Nock, O.S. (1963). The Caledonian Railway. London: Ian Allan Ltd.
