Geograph - photograph every grid square

The railway opened in 1863 and became part of the North British Railway.
The railway closed to passenger traffic in 1956 and freight in 1982. It was rebuilt and reopened in 2010.
Now there is a very frequent service between Edinburgh and destinations to the west of Glasgow via Queen Street Low Level, a train every 15 mins each way in the day. This is one of four routes currently connecting the cities.

The trackbed was mostly used for an early Sustrans project and became part of an otherwise wandering route between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The loss of the cycle path (route 75) was compensated by building a new cycle path beside the railway. This is open between Bathgate and Plains, where the A89 is used into Airdrie.
The surface is good and the route is used by roadies, unusual for rails to trails conversions. There are few obstacles (broken glass in Caldercruix is avoidable) and only one dismount sign (as usual for no good reason). Worth a dawdle with a pair of binoculars, the birding is excellent.

There were quite a few sculptures along the route, some have survived the return of the railway.