Isla Whateley gave a very interesting talk to CRAG this year and we thought it would be good to share this background information about Isla in her own words, and a link to her website about Edinburgh’s transport systems.
“I’ve always enjoyed trains. Growing up in the north-west of Glasgow, there was no shortage of them. I can count on the fingers of both hands the number of times I got into town by car or bus as a teenager, because the train was by far the fastest and most convenient route — the journey of four miles taking less than 15 minutes. A cornerstone of adolescence was when your parents finally let you take the train into town with your friends without adult supervision. With trains every 15 minutes to both Glasgow Queen Street and Central stations on the “low-level” lines, it was easy and comfortable to get around. As a teenager I always felt safe travelling on these trains, even on Old Firm match days.
When I moved to Edinburgh nine years ago, I was a student and lived centrally so I didn’t notice the shortage of suburban rail services in the city. I also felt that Edinburgh was more compact and less sprawling than Glasgow, and much more walkable. However, upon graduating and moving further afield like Slateford and Leith I began to question why there wasn’t the same rail provision in the capital as there was in my home city. Furthermore, there was a dense network of old cycle paths around my new Leith home that I quickly realised were old railway lines. I also heard about the suburban train line in the south of the city that was only being used for freight, and I wondered why it had no passenger services.
I wanted to learn more, so I chose this topic for my Major Project as part of my MA degree in Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University.”
Click this link to access the website Journeys Through Edinburgh (edinjourneys.com)