Edinburgh St Margaret's: The Story of the 'other' Edinburgh Depot of the North British Railway 1845-1967

The first engine shed, a roundhouse, and the workshops comprising St. Margaret's, were built atop a historic well by the NBR in 1845. Mainly associated over the following years with the movement of coal and general freight traffic, the depot was never to match its close Edinburgh Haymarket neighbour in glamour of any form. Described as a dark, smoky hole filled with Reid's Relics, it was nevertheless staffed by first-class enginemen and was to remain largely faithful to steam until closed in 1967. Within this volume is related the history, the staff, including many real characters and many anecdotes thereof, the allocated work and the engines which were based at the shed, including accidents and incidents in which they have been involved. The book, in short, describes the hard, dirty and relentless daily grind associated with the largest, if not most famous, running shed in Scotland.