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Edinburgh St. Margaret's

Edinburgh St. Margaret's
The story of the 'Other' Edinburgh Depot of the North British Railway 1845-1967

Harry Knox

320 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper, casebound with printed board covers.

ISBN13 : 9781899889952

£30.00

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The first engine shed, a roundhouse, and the workshops comprising St. Margaret's, were built atop a historic well by the NBR in 1845. Mainly associated over the following years with the movement of coal and general freight traffic, the depot was never to match its close Edinburgh Haymarket neighbour in glamour of any form. Described as a dark, smoky hole filled with Reid's Relics, it was nevertheless staffed by first-class enginemen and was to remain largely faithful to steam until closed in 1967. Within this volume is related the history, the staff, including many real characters and many anecdotes thereof, the allocated work and the engines which were based at the shed, including accidents and incidents in which they have been involved. The book, in short, describes the hard, dirty and relentless daily grind associated with the largest, if not most famous, running shed in Scotland.

Edinburgh St. Margaret's - Sample Images

sample book illustration
Dating from 1850, this view shows St. Margaret's works and roundhouse (right centre). The roadway running from lower left to upper centre is the old London Road which crossed the railway at St. Margaret's. The rural nature of the site is obvious – but soon the area around the site of works and shed will be built up with high density tenement housing, and the misery of smoke pollution will begin for the inhabitants of same. The open ground in the foreground will eventually be taken over as the running shed expands on the south side of the main line. BR Sc. Region/Author’s collection
sample book illustration
Class D34 No. 9502 Glen Fintaig heads a Down passenger special through St. Margaret's shed, whilst, in the background a Class N2 tank engine stands in the original shed yard and an ex-NBR Y9 protrudes from the roundhouse, by now without a roof. In the background is the works turning shed and the locomotive erecting shop. The part of the latter shop under the clock tower is the replacement sheet shop. W.D. Yuill collection