Recollections

1.

George Smith

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Thank you to George Smith, British Columbia, Canada, formerly from Edinburgh, for the following recollections.

George wrote:

The Railway

"The line through Slateford to Colinton and beyond is stated to have closed to passenger traffic in the 1940s/50s, yet I recollect going on a  Sunday School outing by train to (?) Spylaw Park (or wherever Scotts used to make their Porridge Oats).  The date escapes me though."

The Barracks

"While writing of the Colinton area, I notice that the Riding School at Redford Cavalry Barracks was due to be demolished after a lot of legal hassle about listing.

I remember it well and although my memories date after the cavalry was mechanised, I do remember seeing all the riders in it.

I remember, too, seeing mountain artillery walking their loaded  mules through the streets sometime during the war, so imagine they were among the last to use the barracks as cavalry. 

They arrived at the Gorgie market cattle sidings as far as I can remember.  My three uncles were 'Greys' who learnt to ride at Redford, I believe."

Recollections

2.

David Say

New South Wales, Australia

World War II

Thank you to David Say for the following recollections.  David was born in Dreghorn Loan, Colinton, Edinburgh, in 1939.  He now lives in St Ives, New South Wales, Australia.

David wrote:

Evacuation

"My mother, sister and I were evacuated very early in the war, when I was only four months old - to Cardiff, of all places.  Cardiff got bombed, Edinburgh didn't and we came back home again."

Air Raid Sirens

"Back in Colinton, I remember being taken down to sleep under the stone stairs as the planes flew over to bomb Glasgow.  The wail of the siren on the police hut at the top of the village was piercing, yet mournful."

Air Raid Patrol (ARP)

"My father was in the ARP by night, and Professor of Electrical Engineering by day and by evening.  Did he ever sleep?  I did not see much of him.  But I did find his stock of 'bombs', very loud fireworks used to simulate the sound of the real thing in evacuation exercises.  And, after the war,

 I won a few Dinky cars and trucks, also used in ARP exercises."

By Train to Glasgow

"We had friends in Glasgow and occasionally spent the day there before the bombers returned in the dark.  I loved the anti-aircraft balloons that I saw as we emerged from the subway, just like the one in a picture book I had been given. 

We went by train.  It was invariably slow and the carriages seldom had WCs.  I was lifted up to piddle out of the window."

By Train to Edinburgh

"Our car went off the road during the War, as there was no petrol.   Saturday shopping in town was often done by train to the Caledonian Station at the west end of Princess Street.  It was slow and it was dirty - but it was fun and always a treat preferred over tram or bus.

Gas Masks

"I had a gas mask with a Mickey Mouse face, which I wore in the village, as would a child today at Halloween.  The real thing, soldiers from Redford barracks wearing masks, ran past on training exercises.  I did not think I would like to do that."

Dreghorn Loan

"The railings outside our house in Dreghorn Loan were removed in 1941 to make armaments.  For me, a little boy, this was a dramatic ravaging of our property.  What would they take next?

Dreghorn Loan, Colinton

    ©

In the winter, we sledged down Dreghorn Loan.  There were hardly any vehicles to make it dangerous.  The milk horse frequently lost his footing and his dignity, finishing up on his bottom at the steep exit at the foot of the Loan.  The kids who had a ride on the cart had to get off first.

The Pentland Hills

"Venturing up into the Polo Fields above Dreghorn Loan and below the Pentlands was dangerous, forbidden and always a great adventure.  This was army training land.  Burnt-out tanks, boxes of ammunition and little unexploded shells made for intriguing afternoons."

On one occasion, we saw a spy in the woods, examining the barracks through binoculars.  One of us tore off to alert the police.  An overweight, over-aged bobby struggled back up to the hills with my friend.  He was not a happy chappie.  The spy turned out to be a well-know ornithologist.  He had permission to be there.  We didn't."

The Railway Tunnel

"The railway line ran through Colinton, beside the telegraph pole in this photograph of Colinton Dell:

©

The train tunnel started close to Colinton Station.  It was always a draw.  About 200 yards long, it was curved.  In the middle of the tunnel, we could see neither end.  Soot blackened, even on the brightest day we were in total darkness.

©

Before walking through the tunnel, we put an ear to the rail to check that no train was approaching.  Someone had been told about this safety procedure and also that, should we meet a train in the single-track tunnel, it was safer to lie between the rails rather than at their side. 

We declared that this was what we would do, each secretly deciding that he would chance it at the side rather than have the snorting monster drive over him.

In the event, we did neither.  On what was probably the last occasion that we ran the gauntlet, we heard the puff puff puff of an approaching train when we were in the middle of the tunnel.  It must have been stationery at Slateford Station when we listened for it.

We didn't try lying down, between or outside the rails.  We ran like Spitfires, stumbling on sleepers, the end of the tunnel enlarging oh so slowly as we made our escape.  When the engine, belching smoke, emerged about a minute later, we escaped retribution by hiding behind the station before bolting up Spylaw Bank Road."

Life went on ..

"Mr Hutchison from the newspaper shop continued to take photographs.  I see that I looked like a rather sweet little boy, not the sort to trespass in train tunnels and army ammunition dumps.

The fishwife came once or twice a week, bringing the freshest catch I have ever tasted anywhere.  She filleted it in our scullery.

There were walks in the Dell, a swing in Spylaw Park and the occasional trip to Whinrig for afternoon tea.  Why did the wind always whistle so eerily through the telegraph wires on that lonely road up from Balerno?

Holidays

"Armed with ration books, we had some short holidays.  Once in the Isle of Arran, where my father laboured on a farm, a submarine surfaced.  “Is it German?” we wondered.  Probably not. 

And in North Berwick, the beach was scattered with barbed wire and massive anti-tank concrete blocks.  Some blocks are still there along parts of that coast.

Smallpox Death

"In 1942, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Edinburgh.  Eight people died of the disease and another ten as a result of vaccination (encephalitis).  One was my sister, aged 14.  Her iron lung was turned off.  It was needed, understandably, for armed forces casualties.

Monica’s name was never to be mentioned again.  I was told she had ‘gone on a long holiday’, learning of her death from the boy next door. 

It was how people dealt with grief at that time – but my mother’s stiff upper lift still quivered at Monica’s name when she died in her 102nd year, 61 years later.  No grief counselling.  Just bottle up the emotion and hope that it only smoulders and doesn’t explode."

End of the War

"The end of the war came uncertainly.  I went to the church hall, used as a mess for the troops, asking the soldiers if it was over yet.  They didn't know.  Eventually the announcement came over the radio.

 The world returned slowly to normality, but as a child of the forties, I had no idea what normality was.  Adults excitedly welcomed back the banana.  I was disappointed.  It didn't seem to me to be like fruit as I knew it - mostly raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, apples and gooseberries from the garden.  Lawns had been dug up to make room for fruit and vegetables.

It took years before sweets were de-rationed.  They then ran out completely and had to be rationed again for another 18 months or so.

By Train to London

"My first visit to London was in September 1945.  I saw what bombs could do.  Half the dining room in our hotel was trampolined off, having received a direct hit.

The train home was murder.  It took 15 hours and there was no food or water.  And it was packed with troops going on leave - or to be demobbed - one sailor getting in by being passed through the narrow flat window above the main window. 

Every visit to the loo - and there were many for a small boy - required three soldiers to move out first.

David Say, St Ives, New South Wales, Australia:  October 28, 2006

Recollections

3.

Valerie Turner

Queensland, Australia

Thank you to Val Turner, Queensland, Australia, formerly of Colinton, for sending these recollections of Edinburgh.

Val wrote:

Colinton

"I lived in Colinton Mains, Edinburgh and had a very happy childhood there,  playing in the woods, in the burn, and during summer, climbing the Pentland Hills and eating the blaeberries.  What wonderful times we had!!"

Schools and Gala

"I went to Craiglockhart school and then Tynecastle school.

Craiglockhart school

   ©

I was also the Gala Queen in Colinton Mains, a long time ago!!!!"

Library and Shops

"We used to walk to the library in Colinton, almost daily to change our books.  There were no TVs in those days.

I used to go the St Cuthbert's church and then we'd go down the steps to what was the little sweet /tobacconist shop and spend our pennies and talk to the owner who used to wear a sailor's peaked cap.  Then we'd walk to the dell.  It was so beautiful."

Australia

"I emigrated to Australia with my family in 1952.   I'm now a radio presenter here in Esk, Queensland, a tiny village  an hour and half from Brisbane. My radio is 95.9 Valley fm 'Your Voice in the Valley'."

Return  Visit to Edinburgh

"My husband and I came to edinburgh in 1975.  We looked for the little humpy stone bridge in Colinton Road, just down from the barracks.  It used to be a dear little bridge on a winding road, but we found a 4-lane highway.

When I stopped and asked a woman where my castle and the humpy bridge were, she told me that the castle had been blown up in a army exercise and that the burn had been re-routed.  The old bridge still stands there but the burn flows elsewhere.

I cried and cried. 'I should never have left' I said!!"

Valerie Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  December 30 + 31, 2007

Recollections

4.

Val Turner

Queensland, Australia

Val Turner, Queensland, Australia wrote:

The Big Store

"Do you remember the big store where we got our rations, with the wooden floor? 

And remember the way they did the cash, putting the money into a ball thing and screwing it up and then send it racing along the ceiling to the person sitting in a little room, putting the change in and sending it back down to the counter again?  I used to be thrilled with it!!"

Wooden Horses

"Do you remember wooden horses in the woods, close to the barracks.  One was called Joe and the other, Frank.

What did they do with wooden horses?   I used to play on them with Sandra Goodall.  Sandra now lives in Canada."

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  January 3, 2008.

Recollections

5.

Lynda Maine

Colinton Mains, Edinburgh

Lynda Maine, Colinton, Edinburgh, replied:

St Cuthbert's Store

"I remember my mothers share number.  St Cuthbert's paid the divi out twice a year. I remember the police standing in the old St. Cuthbert's in Bread Street when they paid the divi out."

Wooden Horses

"I think that the wooden horses have now been taken down, owing the the Health and Safety Act."

Drum Horse

"I remember when the Queen came to Edinburgh. Much to my brother's annoyance I was allowed to take the old Drum Horse, Pompei in his stable at Redford Barracks.

I was even lifted onto the saddle. I was scared stiff, but I enjoyed being on the saddle and getting a ride on it.  Would you believe, my mother did not take a camera!"

Edinburgh Tattoo

"I remember getting into Redford Barracks and being chased, especially when they were practising for the Tattoo

Oh changed days now. I believe you can go and watch them practising at Redford Barracks now, but I believe you know have to pay."

Lynda Maine, Colinton Mains, Edinburgh:  January 3, 2008.

Recollections

6.

Val Turner

Australia

Here, Val Turner remembers some of the people who came past her house when she lived at Colinton.

Val writes:

The Ice Cream Man

"I remember the Italian ice-cream shop at Tollcross, and also the 'yellow' ice cream van that would come around.  We'd call him the the yellow ice-cream man!!"

The Veg Man

"Johnie, the veg. man who used to drive round the houses.  My greatest wish was to sell veg. on his truck!! which I did!!

The Fish Man

"I remember the fish man coming round."

The Rag & Bone Man

"When the rag and bone man came round, we had nothing to give him.  Everyone else was given a goldfish in a jar.  I only had mum's old corsets!! and they didn't warrant a goldfish!!"

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  January 3, 2008.

Recollections

7.

Val Turner

Australia

Here are more memories of Colinton from Val Turner.

Val wrote:

Flowers

"On Mother's Day, my sister's and I would walk to White's farm and ask to buy a bunch of flowers for 6d.  They were usually white.  Perhaps that's why we called it White's farm! 

Now, I ask my children not to buy anything except flowers to go into the garden where I have my  'Mother's Day patch'."

Woods

"I'd play all day in the woods with my friend, Sandra Goodall.  We used to pick wild strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries and Mum would make a jar of jam.  She's save all the sugar to make the Christmas cake and jams.  I still never have sugar in my tea or coffee o this day!! Thanks Mum!!

I remember the daffodils and rhododendrons growing wild, and  the dog roses.  We'd pick the red hips, take them to the school to be made into rose hip syrup!!  Nothing was wasted in those days!!"

Old Castle

"We also used to play in the falling down old castle on Colinton Road.  I remember the 'bobbie' yelling for us to come down from the turret with all our toys and stuff.  We'd slide down the greasy pole to get into the grounds. wish I could do that now!!"

Return to Edinburgh

"Sandra Goodall flew over from Canada to spend a week with me recently.  We went back and we saw our beech trees, elms, oaks, and we both had tears in our eyes.  The bluebells were still in flower and it was a most wonderful time together."

Potatoes

"My older sister went to live on a farm for a couple of weeks to pick, by hand, the potato crop from the frozen ground as the men were all in the war.  She loved that time but said they all cried when trying  to pick the potatoes from ground covered in ice.  Hard times!! "

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  January 10, 2008.

Recollections

8.

Val Turner

Australia

Here, Val Turner writes about some of her wartime memories around Colinton.

Val writes:

Air Raid Sirens

"I remember the air-raid sirens on top of Firhill going off when we were waiting for the tram.  We heard the siren and we'd quietly walk across the road and wait for the 'all-clear'. There was no hysteria or rushing about, and no counselling!"

Gas Masks

"We had gas masks. My little sister had one that was supposed to look like Micky Mouse, I think.  I remember her screaming when we put her into it."

Royal Navy

"My father was in the British Navy, so was not often at home, and when he was, he was in the A.R.P.  I remember the sand bags stacked against the office of the A.R.P. - I think that's what it was - and at the convent at Firhill."

Trams

"We'd wait for our tram.  Nos. 9 and 10 would go to Colinton Village.  No. 27 would stop at Firhill.

At Christmas, we'd come home from the city, sitting upstairs in the tramcar, and count all the Christmas trees in house windows. It's all buses now."

Local Shops

"I  remember:

- beautiful buttery flaky bread rolls from a bakery just up from Craiglockhart School. my friend Isobel Little used to bring them for her lunch. and I'd be having school dinners !!ugh!!

- the sweet shop just down from the school, selling small bottles of Fanta and lovely sherbet in little paper bags. I just loved t he sherbet and still love lemon sherbet sweets!!

- the shops including a lovely cake shop at Happy Valley. These held some excitement for me.  What a daft kid I was!!"

Val wrote, later:

"I hear from Tony Ballard that he also remembers the lovely cake shop at Happy Valley.  My mum used to call me 'Happy Val' after 'Happy Valley'. "

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  January12, 2008 + February 23, 2008.

Recollections

9.

Lynda Maine

Colinton Mains, Edinburgh

Lynda Maine, Colinton, Edinburgh, added:

Deliveries

"I remember David Flett coming around Colinton Mains on a Tuesday and Saturday.  He retired and took over the running of his Father-in-Law's shop, Hill Lord, the pet shop in Bruntsfield.

I did hear that David went back home to somewhere in  the North of Scotland.  I can remember David's brother-in-law Johnny.

I also remember the fish monger.  I think he was called Hunan."

Lynda Maine, Colinton Mains, Edinburgh:  January 21, 2008.

Recollections

10.

Val Turner

Australia

Here, Val Turner writes about some of her wartime memories around Colinton.

Val writes:

Spylaw Park

"I remember walking to Spylaw Park and playing on the swings. They are still there.   I could almost see us swinging away, with my sisters, having a great time and smelling the porridge oats!!

It was there that we used to watch 'Punch and Judy' shows under the monkey puzzle tree.  The tree is not there now.

When I returned to Spylaw Park, I was struck with the beauty of the place, and also Colinton Dell.  On the way there, we passed the beautiful old church.  We went into the grounds and wandered round the gravestones, mellowed with time passed -  so beautiful."

Trip to Fife

"Dad was on the Herring Fisheries Board.  He would be there to launch new fishing boats.  He took me to a navy submarine one day and we went into it.  I remember the terrible closeness and the oily? smell.

I remember, once, he took us to Fife (I think it was Fife).  The women in the tiny whitewashed cottage, wearing long skirts, were all crying.  So, looking back I can only imagine a terrible sea tragedy must have taken place but my sisters and I weren't told."

Fields behind our Houses

"Sandra (Canada) and I would take blankets into the fields behind our houses, throw ourselves and the blanket down in the wheat and make 'our houses' with many rooms all connecting.  Then we'd see the farmer, shouting to us kids to get out of his fields.  So unfair!!

The women in the fieldsalso had long skirts and kercheifs round their hair!!  We'd scramble up the sides of the lovely haystacks, and sit for hours on top, singing away  -   a song just made for us, or so we thought!!

'Lovely day on top of a load of hay'

Soup

"I remember when dad came home with a sheep's head for mum to make soup!!  We all screamed and ran from the kitchen, and it sat on the kitchen table, its eyes glowing in the dark!!"

Sandra's Mum

"Talking of soup, Sandra's mum would make soup and serve it to us.  We'd be sitting on the coal bunker in the sun, drinking soup from cups!!

Sandra's mum had such beautiful hats.  On Saturday afternoons, we'd go into her 'big room' and try on her hats and look in the mirror!!  She was a beautiful woman."

Leaving Colinton

"My daughter couldn't believe that we all actually left Colinton, but when my Dad came back from the war he'd been in Trinidad and the  West Indies, and we were still in our cold damp house.  He said he had to get his daughters to the sun!! and so here we all are (in Queensland, Australia). 

But my sisters and I know where we'd rather be!!  And as for the sun, I could shoot it out of the sky!!"

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  January 26, 2008.

Recollections

11.

Val Turner

Australia

Val writes here about her memories of food when she lived as a child in Colinton, during World War II:

Food during World War II

Rabbit

"I remember that we used to keep rabbits.  One continually got away and raided all the veg. gardens in our neighbourhood.  So one of our neighbours suggested that he kill it.   Mum said 'Yes', and to our horror, we were expected to eat poor Blackie !!

It was awful, (not the rabbit!!) and we were crying but I think in the end the enticing aroma of carrots and dumplings in the rabbit stew won us over!! Fancy eating our pets!!  But as Mum said, 'There's a war on', and that phrase covered most things as I remember."

Leaves, Nuts and Berries

"We used to eat  almost anything. I remember Sandra and I poisoned ourselves in the woods eating some strange leaves.  We were sick for a long time.

Sandra had said, 'Do you like vinegar?' and, of course, I said I loved it. So she said, 'These are vinegar leaves.'  So we ate a whole bank of them, stalks and all.  We had the  nurse call round to us on her bike for days after.

We'd drink the white stuff from the dandelions, ugh!!, the beech nuts, and all the berries we'd find in the woods.  In fact, anything we could find."

Dog Biscuits and Fish

"Mum would buy dog biscuits for Towser in the shape of dog bones and we'd eat them too.  We loved them!!  And of course we ate boatloads of fish.  I remember the lovely big cod steaks we'd fry.  Delicious !!"

Eggs

"We always had vegetables, but not much in the way of meat (not forgetting poor Blackie!!).  And remember the powdered egg in packets? -  brown waxy packets with 2 crossed flags on the front.  I loved those eggs scrambled !!"

We eventually had hens in the garden for the eggs but we had to give up our ration of 1 egg a week so we could buy hen food instead.  We'd go over to the barracks for all the scraps for the hens so they were fed very well."

Christmas Cake

"Mum would queue up and buy dried fruit, hide it away in the sideboard and lock the doors, and we'd slide the upper drawer out, stretch our arms along the  space the drawer had left, dangle our hands and grab anything we could from the paper bags.  Poor Mum could never see how the bags were all half full when she came to bake the Christmas cake."

Rations

"As we never took sugar in our tea, Mum always had plenty of sugar to bargain with!!  

We loved it on ration day when we had our  butter ration.  We'd never had anything tasting like bread with real butter!!  The margarine used to taste of fish.  Horrible!  The bacon used to taste of fish also."

The Pigs' Bin

"The pigs' bin was at the end of our street, and in it would be everyone's kitchen rubbish, just for the pigs.  In the summer, the bin would smell horribly."

Milk Monitor

"At school, I was a 'milk monitor'.  My job was to prick all the milk bottles with a special long  thick nail.  I recall the sharp snap sound of the milk top being 'popped'."

Apples

I remember, at Christmas, the school would go out to a theatre or somewhere and we were all given a beautiful eating apple, wrapped in tissue paper!!  They were a gift from the people in Canada.

The whole theatre was filled with such a sweet fresh smell of apples, I can remember the thrill of it, even now.  You don't buy apples smelling like that these days, or we don't over here!!

 I think the show we saw was the orchestra playing 'Peter and the Wolf', showing us all the different instruments.  They also played 'The Thunder and Lightning Polka'.  It was thrilling. I loved it.  These memories are very sweet to me.

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  February 5, 2008.

Recollections

12.

Val Turner

Australia

Here are more memories from Val Turner, of the Colinton area around the time that World War II ended.

Val wrote:

Garden Party

"I remember the Colinton Association Garden Party.  My mum and dad were very active in that sort of thing.

The Grass Steps

"We used to walk over the Braid Hills, very close to home, and play on the grass steps which we thought were marvellous!!  I saw the 'Vagabond King'  there.  I was sitting on the grass steps with the burn between the stage and the steps.

 I went to find them when I was in Edinburgh and, to my horror, I found a very busy road going through now but the steps were still there  -  or was it my imagination?"

Braid Hills

"I recall going to the Braid hills with our usual gang, Sandra and my sister.  We had a bottle of lemonade but nothing to open it with, so we smashed it on a stone (crazy!!) and my hand was in the way and I still have the scar on my finger today.

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  February 8, 2008.

Recollections

13.

Val Turner

Australia

Val wrote:

School Doctor

"I remember the doctor visiting school, and everyone lining up for the injections, then wearing an arm band so that people would be wary of bumping you.   How silly!!   It made one the target of every school bully!!

And, remember the smallpox injections? -  lots of tiny scratches in a circle on the upper arm."

School Dentist

"A visit of the school dentist filled me with horror.  The address of the dentist  was 45 Lauriston Place.  How  could I forget that?

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  March 8, 2008.

Recollections

14.

Bob Wyllie

Brussels, Belgium

Thank you to Bob Wyllie who wrote asking a question.

Bob wrote:

Craiglockhart Road

"In 1953, I went to live in Craiglockhart Road, just down from Firhill.  Our house, which is clearly shown in this map

1940

    ©

but surprisingly not in this map

1955

     ©

 was in a small  cul-de-sac off Craiglockhart Road, proper, and backed onto the garden wall of the Old Soldiers' Home.

We used to rise with the Reveille bugle from Redford Barracks, but did not necessarily retire to the Last Post which we also heard."

Craiglockhart Road (and the small cul-de-sac on the 1940 map) can be found towards the upper right corner of these two maps.  -  Peter Stubbs

Bob added:

Railway Question

"Between the back of our house and Elliot Rd: there was still then a cultivated field, but along its edge ran a long very narrow wood which backed houses until it merged with the woods of the dell towards its Slateford end.

My mother told me that this was the line of the old 'puggy' railway which had been used to bring dressed stone from the quarry (presumably Hailes) and via a short stretch of the Union Canal too, up for the construction of Redford Barracks.

My mother was not from the area,  but she knew a lot about old Colinton since she often visited it as a girl in the days just before the Great War when the construction of the barracks started.

Can anyone shed any light on this tale of the 'puggy' railway?"

Bob Wyllie, Brussels, Belgium:  August 25, 2008.

Answer?

If you'd like to send a reply to Bob, please email me then I'll pass on your message to him.

Thank you.    -  Peter Stubbs:  August 26, 2008

Recollections

15.

Bob Wyllie

Brussels, Belgium

Bob Wyllie later provided more information, below:

Bob wrote:

Railway Question

"I notice also from the 1940 map that the long, thin wood that I referred to is clearly shown like a hockey stick with the handle trending top right and the blade at bottom left just to the left of our cul-de-sac.

The handle section which crosses Craiglockhart Road appears to be heading up towards Wester Craiglockhart Hill just east of Firhill proper. This would certainly fit in with the idea of a small-gauge railway way-leave."

Please click on the small Redford map below to enlarge it, and to see the 'hockey stick' shape that Bob refers to, near the centre of the map. 

Redford Barracks can be seen in the lower centre of this map, with the Royal Soldiers' Home and the cul-de-sac that Bob refers to, immediately to the north of the Barracks.

Redford

    ©

Bob added:

"By the time that I lived there, the upper section of the wood / way-leave had presumably been incorporated into the back gardens of the houses along its track.  Only the strip along the edge of the field between Craiglockhart Rd and Elliot Rd remained."

Bob Wyllie, Brussels, Belgium:  August 26, 2008.

Recollections

16.

Brian Clapp

Here, Brian Clapp replies to the question in 'Recollections 15' above:

Redford Barracks Railway

Answer - 1

Brian wrote:

Book

"In Donald Shaw's book 'The Balerno Branch' (Oakwood Press), this appears:

'All that was built was a tramway from Slateford up to the site of the barracks, along which the War Office carried materials until the works were complete in 1913.

This tramway, which crossed the Union Canal by a small bridge still in existence at the top of Allan Park Road (and over which a conduit now runs) then became disused.' "

The Balerno Branch (Donald Shaw) 1989

Brian added:

1912 Map

"Presumably there was some discussion at the time about making the route permanent.

    ©

This extract from W&AK Johnston's Post Office Plan of 1912-13 shows the proposed tramway running from top to bottom of this map, about 2/3 of the way across the map. 

The course of the proposed tramway, shown on the map, follows what is now Allan Park and Craiglockhart Road. It passes through the hockey-stick shaped wood mentioned by Bob Wyllie, and ends in front of Redford Barracks."

Brian Clapp:  August 27, 2008.

Recollections

17.

Patrick Hutton

New Town, Edinburgh

Patrick Hutton wrote:

Redford Barracks Railway

Answer - 2

Patrick wrote:

"I think:

-  the W & AK Johnson Post Office Directory map, 1912-13, that you put up yesterday shows the planned route of the tramway.

-  this map, taken from the Bartholemew Survey Atlas, 1912, displayed on the National Library of Scotland web site  shows the actual route.

The proposal, according to Donald Shaw's book ''The Balerno Branch' was for a passenger-carrying tram route, whereas the actual route seems to have been more of a builder's siding, as is mentioned in reminiscences on the Haymarket Scout Group web site.

The route is somewhat different at the Redford end between the two maps above.  In both cases, the route runs across the 'hockey stick' strip of land that Bob Wyllie mentions, rather than along it."

Patrick Hutton, New Town, Edinburgh:  August 28, 2008.

Recollections

18.

Douglas Beath

Tasmania, Australia

Douglas Beath wrote:

Redford Barracks Railway

Answer - 3

Patrick wrote:

"Hunter's 1964 book, 'Edinburgh's Transport', pp144-6  has no less than six paragraphs on this short-lived line.  Its history seems to have comprised more promotion, counter-promotion, and frustration  than operation.  The story even stretches from the Loan, Colinton via Angle Park Terrace to Fountainbridge.

Quoting selected phrases from the book gives the gist of what happened on the ground:

'1909 ... Colinton Tramways Company ... seeking powers ... through fields ... Craiglockhart and barracks site ... branch to Slateford ... temporary tracks for barracks contractor's two steam locos.'

'By 1913 no effective progress (on permanent line, standard gauge electric)'.

'Old formation .... remained ... until building developed.    Part became Craiglockhart Road ... other north to Slateford and canal bridge can still be seen ... as footpath to Allan Park Road.' "

Douglas Beath, Tasmania, Australia:  August 28, 2008

Hunter's Book

I also have a copy of the book that I believe Patrick refers to above.  Its title is: 'Edinburgh's Transport: The Early Years''.  However, I cannot find any reference to the line to Redford Barracks in my copy, so perhaps my copy is a different edition of the book.  My copy was published by James Thin, Mercat Press, in 1992.    -  Peter Stubbs:  August 28, 2008.

Recollections

19.

Val Turner

Australia

Val wrote again about the time when she lived in Colinton.

Spring

"I was remembering, the other day, when my friends and I used to go into the woods to find the first buttercup of Spring, and to see the trees with their tiny new green leaves, and the large sticky buds of the Sycamore trees.  Simple pleasures!  It all seems so long ago  now."

The Woods

"The woods were a great place for us kids.  We dammed the burn up with large stones, and swam  in the Summer.  We swung across the burn on great ropes with knots for us to sit on, left by the soldiers, and scrambled up and over great rope ladders in the 'rope wood'  just down from the ' T Wood'.

We played in the tank, also left by the army.  I still remember the oily smell inside the tank, but we didn't mind the smell.  We played with our dolls and teddies in there and thought  how lucky we were to have a soldiers' tank to play in."

Colinton Dell

"The Braid Hills were another favourite place for us kids, running up and down the grass steps  -  and Colinton Dell was such a lovely place, full of  memories for me.

The sweet shop/tobacconist  is now a house.  I remember the stone  steps going down to the sweet shop and the old Church which, of course, is still there.  We visited it last year and its still all the same."

Singing

"We used to sing in the buses and trains when we went on a day trip to the sea-side.  Everyone sang at full tilt, ready for the day's outing.

I remember when we came to Australia, and had to travel for about 1 hr on the train to get into Melbourne where we worked, my sister and I would sit in 'our corner' and sing all the way, much to the shocked  expressions of our fellow passengers! They looked over the tops of their newspapers at us, and we soon realized that that wasn't the done thing.  We often laugh at ourselves now, thinking back to those early days."

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia:  May 9, 2008.

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