14 photos of Edinburgh's Waverley Station through the years - including Waverley Steps transformation

Edinburgh's main train station at Waverley is the second busiest station in Scotland and has been welcoming passengers since the 1870s.

The original Waverley Station replaced the smaller and later deemed inadequate North Bridge Station, which was opened in 1846. Following the construction of Waverley Bridge and a new North Bridge, as well as tunnels at the Mound, Haymarket and Calton Hill, Waverley was reconstructed in 1893.

The works of the 1890s made Waverley the largest station in Britain until Waterloo Station was re-opened in 1921.

When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, Waverley was the focus for evacuating children to more rural areas – in three days over 178,000 children had been evacuated on trains leaving the station. 

In 1991 Edinburgh Waverley was granted ‘A’ listing status by Historic Scotland. In 1994 when the railway was privatised, and track and train were separated, Railtrack PLC took over the infrastructure including Waverley station, and a regeneration program began. By 2004 Railtrack had been taken over by Network Rail and a series of projects were undertaken to refurbish the station.

Between 2010 and 2012 the glazing in the roof was replaced and strengthened as part of a £130 million upgrade. It took 27,400 new panels of glass – equal to 14 football pitches. The Waverley Steps were also rebuilt and covered in 2012, putting an end to the wind tunnel passengers faced when they exited the station onto Princes Street.