Baileyfield Switch and Crossing Works

Location type

Works

Name and dates

Baileyfield Switch and Crossing Works (1905-)

Served by the North British Railway.

Description

This works manufacturers switches and crossings - points, the track hardware for junctions and siding turnouts. Voestalpine VAE UK

A North British Railway works was opened here around 1860, the company having a steeling plant where steel rails were prepared. The company had been finding that the lifetime of rails was short and set this works up. (It appears on Ordnance Survey maps after 1896). Damage caused by the gases produced by the works led to a legal argument with Baileyfield House. The North British built a 250ft chimney for the works.

It is an interesting site bounded by the North British's 1859 curve from Portobello West Junction to the South Leith branch to the west and the original Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway's South Leith branch alignment to the east. (Much of the latter is now under Sir Harry Lauder Road although a superb survivor - a fine stone bridge over the Figgate Burn - can be found to the south of the works site.)

The works was rebuilt in 1980 to re-open in 1982. As part of British Rail's privatisation it was sold in 1995.

Sidings access the site from the north, although these see very little use. The works remains busy.

Access to the works was controlled by Baileyfield Signal Box which opened when the line was doubled in the 1912. The box closed in 1940 when its responsibility was absorbed by Kings Road Signal Box to the north.

Tags

Works railway works

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map




Chronology Dates

26/02/1982Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway
Baileyfield Switch and Crossing Works opened. (The original Baileyfield Switch and Crossing Works was opened here by the North British Railway in 1905. It closed in 1980 for rebuilding.)

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

Drem to Edinburgh: Including Gullane, Haddington, Tranent, Musselburgh and Fisherrow Branches (Scottish Main Lines)

Edinburgh St. Margaret's: The Story of the 'Other' Edinburgh Depot of the North British Railway 1845-1967

Exploring Disused Railways in East Scotland

Last Trains: Edinburgh and South East Scotland v. 1
LNER Wagons: Volume 3: Scottish Area: Ex North British and Ex-Great North of Scotland Railway Wagons
North British Railway in Northumberland, The

North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

North British Railway, Vol. 2 (Standard Railway History)

Signalling and Signal Boxes along the North British Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway and the CLC Routes

South East Scotland (British Railways Past & Present)

The Castle and the Bear: A Brief History of the North British Railway

The North British Railway a History
The North British Railway, Volume 1, One,
The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)

Vanished Railways of West Lothian