Passengers returning from their festive breaks boarded a train at Edinburgh Waverley in the afternoon of January 3 1917, with no clue that their journey would turn out to become one of the most devastating rail disasters the country has ever seen.
As the train approached Ratho Station, eight miles west of Edinburgh, at around 4.35pm it collided with another engine and derailed. The Herald told readers the following day of: “Heartbreaking scenes, with a large number of passengers pinned beneath the wreckage.”
READ MORE - Edinburgh TV presenter John Leslie now, new career after falling from public favour
