Routes and services
In addition to the main east coast route from Berwick to Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, the NBR’s other principal routes comprised:
- Edinburgh – Carlisle (Waverley route);
- Edinburgh – Glasgow;
- Edinburgh – Perth;
- Edinburgh – Stirling;
- Glasgow – Fort William / Mallaig.
There were comprehensive suburban services around Edinburgh and Glasgow, and many other cross-country branch line services in central Scotland, Fife, the Borders and in Northumberland. The Company had extensive goods operations throughout the country, particularly serving the industrial heartland of Scotland, including the coalfields of Lanarkshire, the Lothians and Fife, the iron and steel industries of central Scotland and the major fish traffic originating all along the east coast of Scotland, from Berwick to Aberdeen, and in the west at Mallaig.
In addition to its railway operations, the NBR was the largest railway dock owner in Scotland and also operated comprehensive steamer services on the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.