‘We of the present generation…take it very much as a matter of course that you go down to the station, get into a comfortable carriage and are whirled off to your destination at a speed which would have been quite unthought of not so very long ago’
Glasgow and South Western Railway tourist guide, 1895. NRS, GD360/36
The development of the railway in Victorian Scotland (1837-1901) changed the landscape of travel in unprecedented ways. Before the railways, long-distance journeys were only possible for a select few and were often slow, uncomfortable and fraught with risk: the development of passenger railways changed this forever.
Journal of William Dickson. There are two journals in our archives covering the years 1720-1745. NRS, RH9/1/212
Scotland’s earliest railway was the 1722 Tranent – Cockenzie Waggonway. Built by the York Buildings Company, construction began in May 1722, with local timber-wright William Dickson employed to make wooden rails, wagons and wheels for this new innovation. His journals – held in our archives, see RH9/1/212 - list his time spent and materials used and give some picture of the society in which he moved and worked.
From the 1840s onwards, passenger lines and trains began to open long-distance travel to the masses, offering opportunities for many to see their country’s coastline for the first time or spend time in the Highlands.
Before the railways existed, travelling was ‘a challenge to one’s nerve – a veritable campaign against weather, distance, time and inconveniences innumerable. Nothing tamer than undeniable necessity would commit one to it.’
It is hard to imagine how difficult it was to travel around Scotland before the railways. Few people had the resources, time and dedication to navigate Scotland’s beautiful but challenging landscape. Those brave few who did, included Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworth’s ‘Recollections of a tour made in Scotland’ (1803, pub. 1874) was written after a 663-mile journey in a two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. The most famous writer to romanticise pre-industrial Scotland is Sir Walter Scott. His works, including the poem ‘The Lady of the Lake’ (1810) and ‘Waverley; or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since’ (1814), renewed fascination with Highland Scotland, some 60 years after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
Minutes of the company of proprietors of the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway, 8 July 1808. NRS, BR/KTR/1/1
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries saw new infrastructure spring up all over Scotland, including new roads, bridges, canals, harbours and railways. In the earliest stage of their development, the railways were primarily for industrial, rather than passenger use and carriages were drawn by horse. Placing coal wagons on smooth rails allowed horses to pull greater loads of coal. The Marquess of Titchfield decided to build a railway between his coalmine in Kilmarnock and a new harbour called ‘The Troon’ 10 miles (16km) away. Opening in July 1812, it was the first railway in Scotland to obtain an authorising Act of Parliament. It was also the first line on which a locomotive was used. It was crucial in laying the track for future lines.
Full steam ahead!
The harnessing of steam was a revolution for Scotland’s railways. In c.1816, engineer George Stephenson tested his engine ‘The Duke’ on the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway. Whilst the locomotive worked well, its weight broke the short, brittle rails. Despite this setback, developing technology meant that the railways were seen as a way of moving goods reliably and speedily. The possibility of transporting people by rail was something being considered by rail pioneers.
As early as 1831, the Garnkirk and Glasgow railway was running a passenger service, but the real growth in Scotland’s railway network began in the 1840s. At the start of this decade, Scotland only had 289 miles of track, but by 1866, 2250 miles had been completed.
The railways were a financial boon for Scotland’s aristocrats, many of whom sold parts of their estates to railway companies. Scotland’s land-owning classes, along with lawyers, bankers and merchants, staked money to develop new railway schemes. The sums raised were vast; the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which opened in February 1842, raised capital of £999,000. This allowed bridges, viaducts, and grand station buildings to be constructed. Engineers battled against the sharp contrasts of ‘Rugged mountains, lush fertile valleys, ribbon lochs of superb beauty, grimy coalfields and windswept, desolate moorland’ to transport people, luggage and livestock.
Fierce rivalries developed between railway companies, particularly between the Edinburgh-based North British Railway and the Caledonian Railway in Glasgow. The Lowland lines were generally the most profitable and saw rapid development. The Highland lines, reliant on seasonal tourist revenue, found investment more challenging and often took years to complete.
For some, the steam locomotives remained frightening. They were noisy, dirty and dangerous and likely to cause serious accidents. Disasters were often reported including: the collapse of the Tay Bridge in 1879, resulting in 59 deaths; a head on collision of two trains in Winchburgh in 1872 killing 15 people and injuring 35; and a collision at Bo’ness Junction in 1874 killing 16 and injuring 28.
Draft letter from 5th Duke of Buccleuch to Midland Railway General Manager, James Allport, dated 26 December 1871. NRS, GD224/1031/33
In this draft letter the 5th Duke of Buccleuch details the injuries that he suffered in December 1871 in an accident whilst travelling north. Both he and his party ‘have all experienced not only inconvenience but also very severe bruises as well as serious shaking…The collision of the trains did not appear to occasion much surprise…at the station I heard that a very similar accident had occurred ten days previously when the express trains arriving from the north & south are backed into the station, afford great risk that such collision may from time to time occur by the carelessness of any engine driver.’
Other complaints from the anti-railway lobby ranged from Sunday golf being facilitated to the ‘desecration’ of the countryside.
Despite these protests, the railways continued to flourish and changed the make-up of communities across Scotland. In the peak of ‘tourist season’ – June, July and August – resort communities could grow up to four times their usual size: a frantic, yet vital period for local economies. One inhabitant of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute summed up the situation in 1881: ‘What do you live on in the winter? Tatties and herring. And in the summer? We’re all right then; we live on the Glasgow folk.’
Travelling in Style
On early trains, wealthy passengers enjoyed modest comforts on board; it was not until the 1844 Railway Regulation Act that third-class carriages were required to have a covering and seats. Standards varied between railway companies, although competition led to carriages gaining better suspension, heating and upholstery over time.
"Acceleration is the order of the day"
Smoother and faster journeys were in demand. On 27 June 1890, the Dundee Telegraph described how new engines were ‘surpassing in power and speed anything yet seen… Acceleration is the order of the day.’
Glasgow led the way in building locomotives. Of the 13,342 men employed throughout Britain in the locomotive industry in 1899, more than half worked in Glasgow.
Photograph of motor car advertising the Highland Railway, its hotels and tours, no date. NRS, BR/HR/4/30
Commuters, tourists, and excursion groups utilised the trains. Railway companies worked in conjunction with horse-drawn carriages, steamships and, later, motor vehicles, to offer door-to-door transport. The Highland Railway Company, which ran trains along the west coast of Scotland and MacBrayne, a steamship company, agreed to provide services between Kyle of Lochalsh and Stornoway, and Kyle of Lochalsh and Portree. The Glasgow and South-Western Railway encouraged passengers to enjoy ‘its fleet of luxurious steamers’ to connect with Arran, the Cumbraes, Rothesay and the Clyde.
“Notes for Tourists. Glasgow and South Western Railway” provides information on routes, schedules and sights for tourists. NRS, GD360/36
Holidaymakers were targeted through brochures and guidebooks. The ‘excursion’ became a regular feature of public and local holidays as special trains were scheduled to meet demand. Companies such as Thomas Cook also developed programmes for tourists. Cook’s ‘Tartan Tours’ took in popular sites and the scenery of the Highlands and Islands. The Royal Family also patronised Scotland’s railways. Queen Victoria regularly used the train both on official visits and for holidays to Balmoral, for which Ballater was the ‘royal’ station.
An illustration showing the arrangement of carriages that compose the royal train from Ballater to Windsor, 1899. NRS, BR/HRP/S/3/14
Travellers wrote letters detailing their experiences. Peter Weir wrote to his sister Elizabeth from the Mains of Tulloch by Aviemore on 17 August 1903 to tell her about a typical Scottish experience - rain and midges!
Letter from Peter Weir to his sister, Mrs McIntosh, 17 August 1903. NRS, GD1/1195/4
Railway company profits were also weather-dependent; a period of wet weather could dent returns from the tourist trade. Although the lower classes often travelled regardless of the weather, the wealthy could reschedule plans or travel abroad instead. The directors of the Ben Wyvis Hotel at Strathpeffer reported that the summer of 1881 had been ‘unprecedently cold and cheerless’, leading to visitor numbers falling by a third.
Time to change track?
By the late 1840s, day and weekend train trips to the coast were firmly established. Not all workers could afford to take time off for lengthy holidays as there was no legal right to paid leave, but they could make use of the cheaper rail fares offered by railway companies on local and trade holidays.
Itinerary for an outing to Hopetoun House organised by the British League of Juvenile Abstainers, 11 August 1849. With the kind permission of Sir Alex Hope, OBE, 19th Baronet. NRS, GD377/248/3
In August 1849, for example, the British League of Juvenile Abstainers organised a trip to Hopetoun House, travelling from Edinburgh Waverley to Winchburgh Station. An Edinburgh-based lawyer, John Hope established the British League of Juvenile Abstainers in 1847. The aim of the group was to promote teetotal culture among children as a form of social improvement. During this trip, where their young members enjoyed exploring the gardens, the deer park and hot houses.
An illustration from ‘The Key to Scotland’s Beauties’, a tourist guide produced by the North British Railway. An illustration of ‘The seven ages of golf’. NRS, BR/TT/S/3/2
The railways serviced spa resorts and took the wealthy to the Highlands to fish or hunt. Railway companies also catered to the increasingly popular game of golf. Special golfers’ fares were introduced, and special services were run to popular courses. Hydropathic hotels had become fashionable holiday venues for the middle and upper classes to ‘take the waters’ from the 1850s onwards. The 1880s saw a rise in the popularity of grand railway hotels; these luxurious venues included the Palace Hotel in Aberdeen, Perth Station Hotel and Edinburgh’s North British Hotel. Resort hotels such as those at Cruden Bay, Kyle of Lochalsh and Turnberry also added to railway company profits.
Photograph of the North British Station Hotel, now called The Balmoral, no date. NRS, BR/HOT/4/67
As a new century dawned, the railway faced new pressures. Rising staff costs and the investment needed to facilitate new technology, such as electrical lighting on board trains, resulted in difficulties for some companies. They also faced competition from a new, fashionable form of transport: the motor car. In March 1902, the Highland Railway Company’s chairman, William Whitelaw, told their shareholders that 1901 had seen over 1,000 fewer first-class local journeys, something he attributed almost entirely to the rise of ‘motoring’. This trend would continue, and the motor car came to dominate personal transport in the late twentieth century.
Nevertheless, the railways have left an indelible mark on Scotland, the lines built in the second half of the 19th century form the backbone of Scotland’s modern network and some of the nation’s most spectacular stations and infrastructure also date from the same period. The railways remain a vital part of Scotland’s transport infrastructure. In the financial year 2023-2024, 81.1 million journeys in Scotland were made by rail. Nostalgia for the railway’s early days remains strong, with Scotland’s heritage in locomotive building a source of pride, and scenic trips on heritage railways a popular attraction.
National Records of Scotland’s free Fringe Festival exhibition, ‘Scots on the Move: Railways and Tourism in Victorian Scotland’ will be on show 4 August – 26 September, Mon-Fri, 09:00-16:00. Special openings times on: 7 and 21 August, open 09:00-18:30; and Doors Open Day, 27 September, 10:00-16:00. As part of the exhibition, a number of free talks have been scheduled. Details can be found on Eventbrite.
This exhibition is part of the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. Celebrations and events are scheduled across the country. To find our more, see the Railway 200 website.
