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Edinburgh and Northern Railway
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway (E&NR) was a railway company authorised in 1845 to connect Edinburgh to both Perth and Dundee. It relied on ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay, but despite those disadvantages it proved extremely successful. It took over a short railway on the southern shore of the Forth giving a direct connection to Edinburgh, and it changed its name to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway.
It operated passenger and goods ferryboats over the two firths directly, but seeking to overcome the cost of manhandling goods and minerals at the quays, it introduced a revolutionary system in which railway goods wagons were transferred on to rails on the steamers by means of movable ramps. The wagons moved on their own wheels and this system formed the world's first roll-on roll-off railway ferry service, in use from 1850.
The Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway was taken over by the North British Railway in 1862. The ferry system was a success, but competing land routes had a considerable advantage, and the North British Railway determined to bridge the Forth and the Tay, as part of a strategy to create an efficient and modern route from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. This was achieved in 1890.
Much of the network remains in use, although the northern extremity from Leuchars to the Tayport ferry terminal has closed, and some sections of the Dunfermline branch have closed.
The natural barrier of the Firth of Forth had for centuries impeded transport between Edinburgh and Fife, and points north. The Firth of Tay presented another barrier further north, and the most expeditious route from Edinburgh to Dundee and beyond was a coastal steamer from Leith. Intermediate locations were served by ferry crossing the Forth, but the harbours available were primitive and the crossings in many cases were hazardous. A number of different harbour locations were tried, but no obviously dominant route developed before the railway age.
The first definite move to form a railway connection was the Edinburgh and Newhaven Railway, which obtained an act of Parliament, the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cxxxi), on 13 August 1836. The engineering design for the line was by Thomas Grainger and John Miller, who had made their name on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1823, and a number of other Scottish lines subsequently. However the costs of building the line were beyond the resources of the company, and nothing was done for some time.
After a change of northern terminal location, the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway opened in 1842 as far as Trinity, a little to the west of Newhaven. However this intended harbour was not developed, and a further change of terminal, to Granton, was adopted. The line opened to there from Canal Street, in the complex that later became Waverley station, in 1846. The primary purpose of the line was the conveyance of passengers and goods to harbours on the Firth of Forth, from where ferries provided onward transport to locations in Fife and further afield, including northern parts of Scotland and the east coast of England.
The Duke of Buccleuch developed Granton Harbour and arranged for efficient ferries to be operated from there to Fife; the principal ferry harbour was Burntisland.
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Edinburgh and Northern Railway
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway (E&NR) was a railway company authorised in 1845 to connect Edinburgh to both Perth and Dundee. It relied on ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay, but despite those disadvantages it proved extremely successful. It took over a short railway on the southern shore of the Forth giving a direct connection to Edinburgh, and it changed its name to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway.
It operated passenger and goods ferryboats over the two firths directly, but seeking to overcome the cost of manhandling goods and minerals at the quays, it introduced a revolutionary system in which railway goods wagons were transferred on to rails on the steamers by means of movable ramps. The wagons moved on their own wheels and this system formed the world's first roll-on roll-off railway ferry service, in use from 1850.
The Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway was taken over by the North British Railway in 1862. The ferry system was a success, but competing land routes had a considerable advantage, and the North British Railway determined to bridge the Forth and the Tay, as part of a strategy to create an efficient and modern route from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. This was achieved in 1890.
Much of the network remains in use, although the northern extremity from Leuchars to the Tayport ferry terminal has closed, and some sections of the Dunfermline branch have closed.
The natural barrier of the Firth of Forth had for centuries impeded transport between Edinburgh and Fife, and points north. The Firth of Tay presented another barrier further north, and the most expeditious route from Edinburgh to Dundee and beyond was a coastal steamer from Leith. Intermediate locations were served by ferry crossing the Forth, but the harbours available were primitive and the crossings in many cases were hazardous. A number of different harbour locations were tried, but no obviously dominant route developed before the railway age.
The first definite move to form a railway connection was the Edinburgh and Newhaven Railway, which obtained an act of Parliament, the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cxxxi), on 13 August 1836. The engineering design for the line was by Thomas Grainger and John Miller, who had made their name on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in 1823, and a number of other Scottish lines subsequently. However the costs of building the line were beyond the resources of the company, and nothing was done for some time.
After a change of northern terminal location, the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway opened in 1842 as far as Trinity, a little to the west of Newhaven. However this intended harbour was not developed, and a further change of terminal, to Granton, was adopted. The line opened to there from Canal Street, in the complex that later became Waverley station, in 1846. The primary purpose of the line was the conveyance of passengers and goods to harbours on the Firth of Forth, from where ferries provided onward transport to locations in Fife and further afield, including northern parts of Scotland and the east coast of England.
The Duke of Buccleuch developed Granton Harbour and arranged for efficient ferries to be operated from there to Fife; the principal ferry harbour was Burntisland.