Gifford and Garvald Railway

Macmerry and Gifford Lines
Locale Scotland Successor North British Railway Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Legend
Gifford Humbie Saltoun Pencaitland Macmerry Winton Ormiston Crossgatehall Halt East Coast Main Line to Dunbar Inveresk Smeaton East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway part of Waverley Route

The Gifford and Garvald Railway was a 9.25 mile long, single track branch railway line in East Lothian, Scotland, that ran from a junction west of Ormiston on the Macmerry Branch to Gifford via three intermediate stations, Pencaitland, Saltoun, and Humbie.

History

The line was proposed in November 1890 and the company was authorised on 3 July 1891 to construct a line of 12 miles and 200 yards. Only 9.25 miles of line was completed and opened on 14 October 1901. Run by the North British Railway from opening the line remained independent until 1923 when it became part of London and North Eastern Railway. At Pencaitland, the line served the Glenkinchie distillery. The extension of the line to Garvald was never completed.

The line closed to passengers on 3 April 1933 when the Macmerry Branch withdrew its services. After a bridge collapse in August 1948 the section from Gifford to Humbie closed but the remaining line stayed open. On 2 May 1960 the line past Humbie closed to freight and the remaining line on 25 April 1965.

See also

The Smeaton railway branches of the Lothians