East Linton railway station


East Linton railway station served the village of East Linton in Scotland between 1846 and 1964. It was on the main line of the North British Railway.

History

The main line of the North British Railway, between Edinburgh and, was authorised either on 4 July 1844 or on 19 July 1844, and opened to the public on 22 June 1846. One of the original stations was Linton, which was flanked by towards Edinburgh and towards Berwick. The initial service was of five trains each way on weekdays, and two on Sundays.
The main line ran roughly east–west through Linton. station, between Drem and Linton, opened. Linton station was renamed East Linton in December 1864.

Facilities

In 1904 the station was able to handle all classes of traffic and there was a goods crane capable of lifting.
Maps of the period show that East Linton station had platforms on both sides of the double-track main line which were linked by a footbridge; the station building was on the southern platform; the goods yard with its crane was on the south side of the main line on the western side of the station. The maps also show long sidings each side of the line to the west of the station, a goods shed and weighing machine in the goods yard, a signal box opposite the goods shed and several signals.

Decline and closure

Unlike Drem and Dunbar, both East Linton and East Fortune were listed for closure in the first Beeching report, and duly closed on 4 May 1964.

The future

A study published in 2013 proposed that East Linton and stations be reopened.
When Abellio ScotRail took over the franchise in April 2015, they committed to reopening both stations as part of the local Berwick service by December 2016. Although Scottish Government and local authority funding is now in place, a decision has been taken between Transport Scotland and East Lothian Council to integrate the construction of East Linton Railway Station within a larger programme of works in the next rail investment period of 2019 to 2024.
Contractors started survey work in early 2020 at the proposed site of the station, which is due to be further west of the old station site.