Colinton Station & Tunnel

About this audio guide

This guide to Colinton Tunnel in Edinburgh starts with the Caledonian Railway's Balerno branch, bored through rock in 1874 to haul paper and goods from Currie's mills down to Princes Street, and follows the line to its closure in 1967 and the thirteen damp years the tunnel sat bricked shut. You'll hear how muralist Chris Rutterford and hundreds of local volunteers, including schoolkids and youth groups, found a way to cover the walls without painting directly onto the wet brick. The guide traces the project through a pandemic and several Scottish winters before it was finished.