On sections exposed on the line of the Barnton railway

Abstract

The Barnton Railway branches off from the Caledonian line to Leith, a short distance to the west of Craigleith Quarry. The line passes in a north-west direction to the east end of the village of Davidson’s Mains, then, with a bend to the west, passes along the back of that village on its north side, and into the Barnton estate, where it crosses the northern end of Corstorphine Hill, and it is here that the principal section has been exposed. The first sections exposed on this line of railway lie to the north-west of Craigleith Quarry, between that quarry and Davidson’s Mains. The beds here exposed consist mainly of the blue-black till or boulder clay so common to the district. The enclosed boulders, of which there are great numbers, are principally of Corstorphine greenstone, some of them finely striated; along with these are blocks of sandstone and occasionally small boulders of limestone, fragments of felstone, porphyry, bits of shale, &c. The only other noticeable feature that I observed here was a long line of boulders at the north end of the principal cutting. They lay about six feet below the surface, and projected beyond the sloping face of the cutting on both sides. They rested on boulder-clay which contained patches of sands and gravels here and there on which some of the boulders rested. Beneath this line of boulders very few others could be detected in this part of the cutting. I have noticed boulders lying in lines in other