A very enjoyable afternoon spent at Haymarket station in Edinburgh where we see countless services from Abellio ScotRail, Cross Country, Aventi West Coast and Transpennine Express along with the Edinburgh Trams.
Haymarket station was opened in 1842 and was for a while the terminus of the Glasgow to Edinburgh railway, interestingly enough when the station was opened it started seeing huge numbers of passengers because of the journey times offered from the two cities. However the Church of Scotland created a strong backlash and for a while sunday trains were not permitted to run.
It wasn't until 1846 when the line was extended through the tunnels towards Edinburgh Waverley.
By the 1890s, Haymarket had lost some of its original appeal, and came to be often subject to criticism over a lack of maintenance and a perpetual climate of austerity. During 1894, covered platforms were added to the station by the railway engineer James Carswell to try and give it some more charm and attract more passengers. It is reported that during the 1960s and 1970s, British Rail studied options for several new station buildings and other renovations, but ultimately did not want to invest in Haymarket in case it was soon closed, this was because of the growing amount of trains and passengers coming in and out of Edinburgh Waverley and the slow decline in passenger numbers at Haymarket. But over the years the station was revamped and given a new lease of life, a new station building was constructed with a ticketing booth and several shops. The line was eventually electrified and also had a link to the Edinburgh Tram.
My next station was going to be Colchester but because of engineering works taking place on the line I will more than likely go to Preston on the West Coast Mainline.
You can now find me on Facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2020
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