Railways and Addiewell
How railways developed in the Addiewell area, yesterday and today
Steam train at Addiewell Station, 1910s (?)
John Kelly. All rights reserved. S1. 245.
Addiewell Station, pre-1960s
John Kelly. All rights reserved. S1. 50.
Addiewell Railway Station
Addiewell had a long wait for a station. The new Caledonian line passed close by the village in 1869, and an Addiewell loop line led off it to serve the oil work and various surrounding mines.
However, passengers had to wait until July 1882 before a station opened just south of the village. In the earliest days, trains via Addiewell went, not to Edinburgh Waverley, but to the terminus at Lothian Road. Later this was moved to Princes Street. The Caledonian hotel at the foot of Lothian Road survives, but the station behind it has long gone.
Read more about the railways around Addiewell in the article attached below.
Addiewell Station was lucky to survive Dr Beeching's cuts in the 1960s. It lost it staffing however, the original waiting rooms and ticket office were replaced by a 'bus shelter'!
Will the presence of a railway station at the village lead to lots of private housebuilding in Addiewelll, as has happened in the communities along the Bathgate-Edinburgh and Bathgate-Airdrie routes? Is the train service good enough to attract commuters? We'll have to wait and see.
Attached at the foot of this page is a detailed article on Addiewell and its station and how it has fitted into the development of railway services in Central Scotland. We're very grateful to Roy Calderwood of Edinburgh who researched and wrote it for this website.