The Forth Bridge approach railways were railway lines constructed in the period 1887 to 1890 to form new main lines on the opening of the Forth Bridge at the Queensferry crossing. Until then, only local branch lines approached the location. The North British Railway built new main lines and upgraded some existing lines.
The increase in passenger traffic resulted in serious congestion at Edinburgh Waverley, which was extended and modernised in the years following 1890.
Background In 1842 the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened its main line. It was an immediate success, showing that longer distance railways could be commercially viable. The easy availability of money in the following years resulted in a considerable number of Scottish railway schemes being promoted, and many were authorised in the 1845 Parliamentary session. Among them were railways aspiring to reach northwards from the central belt.John Thomas revised J S Paterson, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1984,
The Scottish Central Railway obtained authorisation to build from the Edinburgh and Glasgow line near Castlecary, to Perth by way of Stirling. The SCR opened in 1848, and in time connected with other railways north and east of Perth.Peter Marshall, The Scottish Central Railway: Perth to Stirling, Oakwood Press, Usk, 1998,
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was authorised on the same day in 1845 as the SCR; its line was to run from Burntisland, in Fife on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth, and to reach both Perth and Dundee by an inland route. In fact Dundee was to be reached by ferry, although even at this early date there was talk of a major bridge across the Tay. The line ended at Ferry-Port-on-Craig for a ferry to Broughty. At the Edinburgh end too, a ferry journey was involved, across the Firth of Forth. In fact passengers leaving the centre of Edinburgh for Dundee first took a train on the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway to Newhaven, and then a ferry to Burntisland, and the E&NR train to Ferry-Port-on-Craig. Their journey concluded with another ferry crossing, and then a final train journey on the Dundee and Arbroath Railway from Broughty Ferry to Dundee.
At first the E&NR route, being considerably shorter, (and much quicker than the stage coach journey that was formerly the swiftest,) was considered the better route, but in time the inconvenience of the ferry crossings became a serious disadvantage. For goods and mineral traffic they were even worse, requiring the contents to be physically transshipped from goods wagon to ship and so on.John Thomas and David Turnock, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 15, North of Scotland, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1989,
The successor railway to the E&NR, the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway, installed train ferries for goods and mineral traffic: the wagons were transferred on to rails on the ferryboats, avoiding the transshipping, but this was still an imperfect arrangement.
In time the multiplicity of Scottish railway companies coalesced: the Scottish Central Railway became part of the Caledonian Railway, and the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway became part of the North British Railway. Incidentally, Ferry-Port-on-Craig station became renamed Tay-Port, and later Tayport. The Caledonian Railway and the NBR became deadly rivals, each seeking to establish monopolistic primacy in areas they served, while at the same time seeking to penetrate the rival's territory. The Caledonian became dominant north of the Tay and in the central belt and to Carlisle, while the North British Railway had a near-monopoly in Fife, rich in mineral resources, and also from Edinburgh to Berwick where it connected with partner railways in England.
The North British sought to extend northwards, and to create its own route beyond Dundee to Aberdeen, but the two ferry crossings, of the Forth and the Tay, were a major limitation in addition to the competitive tactics of the rival Caledonian Railway.
Construction of bridges over both the bodies of water was long on the agenda for the NBR, but it was the Tay that was bridged first. The engineer Thomas Bouch designed and built the Tay Bridge, which opened in June 1878. This transformed the pattern of railway services in Fife, and new routes for passengers, especially residential and excursion journeys, and minerals, became heavily used. The NBR had been acquiring minor railway lines, and running powers on others, to further its aim of reaching Aberdeen by an independent route, and the Tay Bridge integrated with them.The NBR never achieved a completely independent route to Aberdeen, being reliant on running powers over the Caledonian Railway line from Kinnaber Junction (near Montrose) northwards, and on the joint Dundee and Arbroath Railway.
The Tay Bridge fell in December 1879, taking a train down with it; 75 persons perished in the Tay Bridge disaster. Beyond the human cost, there was a huge financial cost to the North British Railway, which at once set about commissioning a second bridge. It opened on 20 June 1887.
The Forth Bridge The scene was set for completion of the most daunting step: the construction of the Forth Bridge. The capital commitment required was too much for the North British alone, and a consortium of railway companies formed a nominally independent subsidiary, the Forth Bridge Railway Company. As well as the North British Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the North Eastern Railway and the Midland Railway participated in the funding of the structure.
The bridge was formally opened on 4 March 1890.
Reaching the bridge The bridge crossed the Firth of Forth at Queensferry. As a major element in long-distance railways, the bridge would require appropriate connecting main line railways. The parliamentary authority of a bridge at Queensferry had been given in the Forth Bridge Railway Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. ccxxxvii), although that was for a dual suspension bridge designed by Bouch. Obviously that could not proceed; nonetheless from 1873 the North British Railway must have been planning how it would arrange routes to lead to a bridge at Queensferry. The present Forth Bridge was authorised by the Forth Bridge Railway Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. cxiv).
Queensferry was the location of a historic ferry crossing, and the ferry was rail connected in 1877 to give Dunfermline a better connection to Edinburgh. On the southern shore there was a branch to Port Edgar (for the ferry) from Ratho, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow line. On the north side, the Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway ran via Inverkeithing to a terminal at North Queensferry. Both of these lines were built as local, slow-speed single-line branches; moreover they were close to sea level, while the track on the Forth Bridge was carried at 361 feet (110 m) above high water.
In addition, the important Fife coast area had only an indirect route to Dunfermline. The Fife coalfield was producing huge quantities of coal, much of which was exported through the harbour of Burntisland, and a more direct connection was essential.
The priorities, then, were to build a main line railway to current standards to take trains from Edinburgh over the Forth Bridge and onwards to Dundee and Perth respectively; to connect the existing (and still growing) mineral lines in Fife to the new route; and to connect Burntisland to the Dunfermline area. The North British Railway was slow to recognise these necessities.
The new lines To achieve the required connections, there needed to be these new lines:
Saughton Junction to Dalmeny, connecting Edinburgh to the bridge; the Dalmeny loop from Winchburgh to Dalmeny, connecting from Glasgow and Falkirk to the bridge; a line from the northern approach to the bridge to Inverkeithing; a line from Inverkeithing to Burntisland; new line connecting Kinross and Perth directly, known later as the Glenfarg line; spurs at Inverkeithing and Dunfermline; a deviation passing Cowdenbeath and running to Kelty.
In addition the Kinross-shire route was to be converted to double track and upgraded, becoming part of the modern main line; similarly the portion of the Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway on from Inverkeithing to Townhill Junction was to be doubled and modernised.
South of the Forth On the south side of the Forth Bridge, the immediate approaches ran to a new Dalmeny station, necessary at a higher level than the former station on the Port Edgar line. That branch joined in at Dalmeny station, and at the south end of the station two new main lines diverged from the old Kirkliston line to Ratho.
Striking south east was the new Edinburgh main line, which joined in to the Edinburgh and Glasgow line at Corstorphine; the junction was later named Saughton Junction. The line was six miles long. The other new main line ran south-west in a long curve to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow line in the direction of Falkirk and Glasgow line at Winchburgh; this line was four miles in length. The North British Railway came very late to the realisation that these lines were necessary; it was only in December 1887 the Company deposited plans for the two new lines.
The Glasgow Herald described the work in progress in 1889, in a very long article, only a small part of which is reproduced here.
The line from the present-day Saughton Junction (then at the old Corstorphine station) to Dalmeny was to give direct main line access from Edinburgh to the bridge:
The Corstorphine and Dalmeny Railway: This line, though not the shortest, was, it is safe to say, one of the easiest of all the new railways [connecting with the Forth Bridge] to construct ... Still a great deal of work had to be done before the line could be formed... Starting at Dalmeny Station, about three-quarters of a mile from the bridge... the railway diverges to the south-east, and takes as straight a line as may be for Corstorphine, where it joins the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway... The first part goes through undulating country, so that some work had to be done. Here occurs the heaviest cutting on the line, half a mile long, and through that most intractable substance, boulder clay. The contractor had to face the excavating of 300,000 cubic yards... Emerging from this the valley of the River Almond is crossed and ... an embankment nearly a mile long and in some places 50 feet high was found necessary... The river itself is spanned by a viaduct 230 feet long, and consisting of a central girder of 140 feet, and one at each end of 45 feet... Passing Turnhouse Farm--where the farmers are petitioning the company to have a passenger and goods station--and under the Linlithgow Road, the line rises by easy gradients [then] descending by a gradient of 1 in 140, the Bathgate Road is next reached... A gradient of 1 in 100, the heaviest on the route, takes the line into Corstorphine. Here a great change has been made. The miserable little wayside place is being converted ... into a large handsome station... We have an "island" platform about 500 feet long, flanked with lines of rails and side platforms. The station at Dalmeny will be abolished, that at the south end of the Forth Bridge taking its place... The cost of the undertaking, without the land, will be near £60,000.Glasgow Herald, 2 October 1889
Trains would be able to run direct from Glasgow to the bridge, by way of Winchburgh, but that line was late: