East Linton railway station

Railway station in East Lothian, Scotland

East Linton

Scottish Gaelic: Linton an Ear

Station in March 2024

General information
Location| East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland
Coordinates| 55°59′08″N 2°39′28″W﻿ / ﻿55.9856°N 2.6579°W﻿ / 55.9856; -2.6579
Grid reference| NT590771
Operated by| ScotRail
Platforms| 2
Other information
Station code| ELT
History
Original company| North British Railway
Pre-grouping| North British Railway
Post-grouping| London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
22 June 1846 (1846-06-22)| Opened as Linton
December 1864| Renamed East Linton
4 May 1964 (1964-05-04)| Closed
13 December 2023| Reopened and resited

East Linton railway station is a railway station serving the village of East Linton, Scotland. The original station opened in 1846 and closed in 1964. A new station, on a different site, opened on 13 December 2023.[1] It is on the East Coast Main Line, six miles (9.7 km) west of Dunbar.

## History

[edit]

The main line of the North British Railway, between Edinburgh (North Bridge) and Berwick-upon-Tweed, was authorised either on 4 July 1844[2] or on 19 July 1844,[3] and opened to the public on 22 June 1846.[4][2][5] One of the original stations was Linton, which was flanked by Drem towards Edinburgh and Dunbar towards Berwick.[6] The initial service was of five trains each way on weekdays, and two on Sundays.[4]

The main line ran roughly east–west through Linton.[7] East Fortune station, between Drem and Linton, opened 1848.[8] Linton station was renamed East Linton in December 1864.[8][5]

### Facilities

[edit]

In 1904 the station was able to handle all classes of traffic (goods, passengers, parcels, wheeled vehicles, livestock, etc.) and there was a goods crane capable of lifting 3 long tons (3,048 kg).[9]

Maps of the period show that East Linton station had platforms on both sides of the double-track main line which were linked by a footbridge; the station building was on the southern (westbound) platform; the goods yard with its crane was on the south side of the main line on the western side of the station. The maps also show long sidings each side of the line to the west of the station, a goods shed and weighing machine in the goods yard, a signal box opposite the goods shed and several signals.[10]

### Decline and closure

[edit]

View of the original station building

Unlike Drem and Dunbar, both East Linton and East Fortune were listed for closure in the first Beeching report, and duly closed on 4 May 1964.[8][11]

### New station

[edit]

A study published in 2013 proposed that East Linton and Reston stations be reopened.[12] When Abellio ScotRail took over the franchise in April 2015, they committed to reopening both stations as part of the local Berwick service by December 2016. Although Scottish Government and local authority funding was secured, a decision was taken between Transport Scotland and East Lothian Council to integrate the construction of East Linton railway station within a larger programme of works in the next rail investment period of 2019 to 2024.[13]

Contractors started survey work in early 2020 at the proposed site of the station, which is to the west of the old station site.[14]

Plans for the railway station were published in October 2020 and submitted in early 2021.[15] East Lothian Council's planning committee approved the proposals, which cleared the way for a station open in the village for the first time in more than half a century. Preparatory work started in November 2021 with main construction work starting in February 2022 and finishing in November 2023. The first timetabled train services, operated by ScotRail and TransPennine Express, began on 13 December 2023.

The station has two 518-foot (158 m) platforms, connected by lifts and a footbridge, and a car park with 114 spaces.[16]

## Services

[edit]

On Monday to Fridays, ScotRail provides five trains per day to Edinburgh and six per day to Dunbar. TransPennine Express also provide five trains per day to Newcastle (one of which extends to Liverpool Lime Street), with a sixth train which operates as far as Berwick-upon-Tweed, and five trains per day to Edinburgh.[17]

On Saturdays, there are four ScotRail and seven TransPennine Express services to Edinburgh. In the other direction, there are five ScotRail services to Dunbar, five TransPennine Express services to Newcastle, and two TransPennine Express services to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

On Sundays, there are four TransPennine Express services to Edinburgh, four to Newcastle, and one to Berwick-upon-Tweed. ScotRail services do not call at East Linton on Sundays.

The frequency on services is uneven, meaning that there are gaps of between fifteen minutes and five hours between trains depending on the time of day.

Preceding station  |  National Rail | Following station

|
|

Dunbar |  | ScotRail
Edinburgh to Dunbar

|  | Wallyford
Dunbar |  | TransPennine Express
Edinburgh to Newcastle |  | Edinburgh Waverley
| Historical railways |
Dunbar
Line and station open |  | North British Railway
NBR Main Line |  | East Fortune
Line open, station closed

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "Date announced for opening of new station at East Linton". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
2. ^ a b Awdry 1990, p. 152.
3. ^ Ellis 1959, p. 5.
4. ^ a b Ellis 1959, p. 11.
5. ^ a b Butt 1995, p. 143.
6. ^ Ellis 1959, p. 8.
7. ^ Conolly 1976, p. 31, section B1.
8. ^ a b c Butt 1995, p. 88.
9. ^ RCH 1970, p. 181.
10. ^ OS 1907.
11. ^ Beeching 1963, p. 123.
12. ^ BBC News 2013.
13. ^ Ritchie 2017.
14. ^ Jones 2020, p. 84.
15. ^ Scotland's Railway.
16. ^ Clinnick, Richard, ed. (January 2024). "East Linton opening date confirmed". Rail Express. No. 332\. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 11\. ISSN 1362-234X.
17. ^ Table 216 National Rail timetable, December 2023

## References

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* Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
* Beeching, Richard (27 March 1963). The Reshaping of British Railways, part 1: Report (Report). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
* Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
* Campbell, Owen (7 September 2021). "Planning consent received for East Linton station development" (Press release). Network Rail. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
* Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.
* "East coast rail study submitted to transport minister". BBC News. BBC. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
* Ellis, Cuthbert Hamilton (September 1959) [1955]. The North British Railway (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. 813/284/15 959.
* Jones, Ben (March 2020). "Survey work starts at East Linton". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 166, no. 1, 428. Horncastle: Morton's Media. p. 84\. ISSN 0033-8923.
* "Reston station case taken to Scottish Parliament". BBC News South Scotland. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
* Haddingtonshire (Map). 1:2500. Ordnance Survey. 1907.
* The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Railway Stations 1904. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. 1970 [1904]. ISBN 0-7153-5120-6.
* "Eastern fury at Abellio's delay for rail timetable". Southern Reporter. Selkirk: Johnston Publishing Ltd. 23 April 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
* Ritchie, Cameron (20 July 2017). "Waiting another seven years for new station?". East Lothian Courier. Newsquest Clyde & Forth. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
* "East Linton Station". Scotland's Railway. Retrieved 22 October 2020.

## External links

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* East Linton Station on navigable 1949 O.S. map
* Photographs of East Linton at Railscot