A hundred years ago the Pencaitland Railway line would have been busy with trains but now like many disused railway tracks it has been converted into a walk and cycle way.  It was built in 1867and started near Dalkeith going via Ormiston then.extended to Gifford in 1901 and it was used mostly for freight from the mines in the area until it closed in 1964.   Passenger services stopped in 1933 but along the track there are various panels, markers and memory boards describing the history of the route. This one describes how someone remembers that as children they used to put a halfpenny on the line so the train would flatten it then they would try to buy icecream and  
We used tae hide on top o’ the bridge an lie in wait.  When the train passed unerneath we’d try an throw things doon the funnel.  But the fireman got wise tae us an just at the last minute he’d blow the smoke – so we were left no bein’ able tae see

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