Lemons Into Lemonade

Tunnel

This is a lemons into lemonade story. It takes place in the village of Colinton, now a neighborhood in Edinburgh. We walked there via the scenic Union Canal towpath and the Water of Leith pathway; it's five miles from our flat. That village benefited from the opening of a railway in 1874. At first, eight daily trains made the 15 minute run connecting the village to the Edinburgh city center, then eight, then twelve, and by the 1920s, two-dozen daily trains were making that run.

Then, with the increase in decent roads, and the corresponding increase in auto and bus transport, the line shut down in the 1960s. The 500 foot long train tunnel, vital back in the day, became useless. With time, lack of attention and vandalism, the tunnel suffered. Then in 2020, a couple of local artists, together with a whole lot of stimulated community spirit, commenced painting the tunnel interior and installing bright lighting. They turned the dark and dank interior into a bright and colorful mural. Neighborhood schools and non-profit institutions painted panels that are expressions of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s 16 lined poem, "From A Railway Carriage." He used to ride this rail line to see his grandfather. Every inch of the painted tunnel is complete with a bevy of flora and fauna, not to mention the faces of would-be passengers, many of whom are community members. Now, the tunnel is an attraction. Nicely done.