Gifford Railway Station in May 1930

The view is looking towards the bottom end of Station Road, and the track, converging into single line,
disappears into the trees to emerge at the level crossing on the Gifford to East Saltoun road,
a few hundred yards past the Golf Course.

 

The buffers are just out of shot to the left of the picture.
Some coaches can just be seen at the right hand side of the picture.

Even the humblest of country stations were a matter of pride for the
Station Master and his staff, with fixtures & fittings kept in good repair.
A station garden or display of plants was an essential feature of the period.

The house beyond the end of the platform was provided by the railway company for
the Station Master & his family.
 

Saltoun Station in the early 1920's


Two Edinburgh/Gifford/Edinburgh trains pass each other at the modest station at Saltoun.
The photograph has been taken from the westbound (Edinburgh) train and provides a good view of 
a Gifford bound service hauled by Drummond  4-4-0 Tank engine No. 1467.
 

The goods siding has just two lines and one is occupied by
a couple of wagon loads of hay protected by tarpaulins.
The white post beside the wagons has a cast iron semi-circle suspended from it.
This simple device was to ensure height & width limits were not exceeded.

The small crane, which could swivel through 360°, was hand operated
and had a surprisingly high lifting capacity.

There was also a spur close to Saltoun which led to the Glenkinchie Distillery
for transporting the magical products of that establishment.

Note the ultra basic wooden platform.
 

Another, later, view of the station showing the Stationmaster and the Driver about to exchange tokens.
These tokens were a safety device to prevent two trains from running on the same section of track.

Note the destination board on the locomotive and the lower quadrant signal in the background.

Humbie Station

 

Humbie Station was more than two miles from the village it purported to serve.
As this 1920's photograph shows, even remote stations like Humbie were kept to
a pleasingly high standard of cleanliness & maintenance.