EDINBURGH. Waiting On Waverley Station.

EDINBURGH. Waverley Station, the booking hall.

There’s a certain romance about travelling by rail and yes I know there can also be some frustration too.

Edinburgh’s Waverley station has that buzz about it as a station in a capital city. Especially when the annual festival is in full flow. The concourse becomes a sort of United Nations with added trains as people arrive, depart and generally try to navigate the stations not always completely user friendly layout.

There are rewards though. The station is below street level on the site of what was the Nor Loch and in the shadow of the North Bridge. Leaving by the large pedestrian ramp or up the steps or escalator on to Princes street the city is laid out like a film set. Old Town to the left with it’s warren of narrow streets and alleyways climbing up to the Castle and on the left the New Town, an airy plateau of elegant squares and gardens.