By Dave Berry, former council leader

OUR county was in early on the Victorian railway boom.

Apart from the Tranent Waggonway, the early ‘Innocent’ railway from Dalkeith coalfields to the St Leonard’s depot under Salisbury Crags soon opened a branch to Fisherrow to bring the catch into the city.

As early as 1845, what would become the East Coast Main Line cut right through the county, but only directly served two of our towns: Prestonpans and Dunbar.

As a result, a fan of six branch lines were built to serve the rest of the county.

All of them were operated by the North British Railway until 1923.

To better access the East Lothian coalfields, a branch to Macmerry was authorised in 1872.

It left the main line at Monktonhall Junction, reaching Macmerry via stations at Smeaton, Crossgatehall, Ormiston and Winton.

Though it carried passengers, the real business was shipping coal from pits at Carberry, Limeylands and Fleets.

Railways in Victorian boom times, before 20th-century car and lorry, were seen as the future and how produce from estates south of Haddington could reach their markets.

Those familiar with this picturesque area know it’s not a bustling metropolis, nor a hub of commerce.

The solution seemed to be a light railway.

After a link from Haddington was discarded, the Gifford and Garvald line was proposed in 1891. Two years later, Garvald was deleted.

Its nine miles of single track ran against the grain of the land, requiring expensive earthworks and bridges.

It left Ormiston via Pencaitland to Saltoun, then climbed 80m through woods in a vicious 1 in 50 gradient to Humbie, then down to Gifford.

It opened in 1901 with three return services (five on Saturdays) to Edinburgh Waverley, drawn by Drummond 4-4-0 tank engines.

It was a lossmaker from the start.

Despite picturesque views, passenger traffic was light, perhaps because it took over an hour to reach Waverley, averaging 18mph.

Freight from farms and the Glenkinchie distillery helped to stem losses.

But the advent of cars and buses soon eroded custom and the line was closed to passengers in 1933.

Freight traffic continued until a bridge collapse in the 1948 deluge, closing the line beyond Humbie, and Dr Beeching’s axe condemned what was left, along with the Macmerry branch itself, by 1965.

But such ill wind did blow us some good, leaving us heritage in the shape of the Pencaitland Railway Walk along the old track bed.