Port Edgar
Location type
StationName and dates
Port Edgar (1878-1890)Opened on the Port Edgar Extension (North British Railway).
Description
This was the terminus of the short extension of the line from South Queensferry [1st]. It opened in 1878, the year after the Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway reached North Queensferry [1st]. The Queensferry Ferry crossing had been in North British Railway control since 1867 in anticipation of improved railways (South Queensferry [1st] had opened in 1868). The North British was authorised to build a harbour and built both the western and eastern breakwaters. Before opening the branch ran along the foreshore to the west of the western breakwater, presumably part of the construction works.
The station was in Port Edgar Harbour, located on the east side of the western breakwater pier, most of the way out. The line was single track with a short double track portion running out onto the pier beyond which it singled on the breakwater. A signal box, opened with the line, was on the west side of the south end of the pier. By reversal a siding served the North British Creosote Works and the original pier to the east on the shoreline.
The station closed in 1890 with the opening of the Forth Bridge which reduced the traffic via the ferry enormously. The signal box may have closed around this time.
Port Edgar Harbour became a naval base in the Great War. Torpedo boats, destroyers and escort vessels were based here. The creosote siding was extended into the base to serve the site and various sheds, and a new signal box was opened.
After the war the base survived but was slowly wound down, and the signal box closed in 1929.
The harbour was used again in the Second World War. Minesweepers were based here. Two further naval piers were built in the harbour, the eastern of which was an extension of the original pre-railway pier. The western naval pier was served a standard gauge line and the eastern by a narrow gauge.
RNAD Royal Elizabeth Yard, a naval stores depot, was located south of Dalmeny South Junction on the line.
The railway closed in 1966.
The base closed in 1975, remaining vessels transferred to Rosyth Dockyard.
Today lines remain embedded in concrete at south end of pier.
Some lines in the base remain, embedded in concrete.
Tags
Station terminus
| Nearby stations South Queensferry [1st] South Queensferry Halt North Queensferry [1st] New Halls North Queensferry Dalmeny Dalmeny [1st] Rosyth Dockyard Inverkeithing [1st] Inverkeithing Winchburgh Kirkliston Rosyth Broxburn [1st] Dalgety Bay | North British Creosote Works Port Edgar Harbour Forth Bridge Battery Quarry St Margaret^s Tunnel Castlandhill Siding North Queensferry Tunnel Providence Siding Tourist/other Port Edgar West Naval Pier Port Edgar East Naval Pier Port Edgar Pier Port Edgar Royal Naval Hospital Hawes Pier Forth Bridge North Signal Box Ferrytoll Pier |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
Books
 Edinburgh To Inverkeithing.: including The Port Edgar, North Queensferry And Rosyth Dockyard Branches. (Scottish Main Lines.) |
