Park Timeline
Supporters of The Woodroad
Sites of Interest
Park Timeline
Supporters of The Woodroad
Sites of Interest
John Miller
An engineer responsible for some of the country's major lines and most spectacular viaducts built at the height of Victorian railway mania. Miller designed his first railway at the age of just 21.
John Miller was born in Ayr on the 26th July, 1805 – son of James Miller a builder in the town and it was probably seeing his father involved in the construction of some of the principle buildings in Ayr and the neighbourhood that John Miller acquired the desire to become a Civil Engineer.
Educated at Ayr Academy, Miller at the age of 12½ entered the office of Mr Gairdner, solicitor. Miller however had no liking for the legal profession although he believed that the knowledge he obtained working alongside Mr Gairdner became invaluable in later life.
Undoubtedly a clever man, Miller studied Mathematics with a private tutor in his teenage years. Miller left Ayr at the young age of 17 to pursue a career as a Civil Engineer in Edinburgh: a trade almost unheard of in Ayr.
In 1823, he entered the office of Thomas Grainger, Civil Engineer and quickly rose through the ranks to such a degree that in 1825, Mr Grainger took him into partnership. Before reaching his 21st birthday Miller had already achieved a great deal having served 5 years training as a solicitor before becoming Partner with Thomas Grainger.
By this time, the importance of the railways had become recognised in Scotland and in 1823 Grainger was employed to lay out a line to connect the Monkland mine field and the Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch – this line was carried out by Mr Grainger. In 1825 a projected scheme for the construction of a line between Edinburgh and Glasgow was taken on by the Forth & Clyde Canal Proprietors. Mr James Jardine was appointed Engineer of this project and he entrusted the survey of the western half of the line to Mr Miller. This scheme however was not carried out.
From 1829 to 1831, Miller was engaged in the laying out and construction of roads in various counties of Scotland and the South of Ireland but after this date nearly his whole time was devoted to Railway Engineering.
In 1830, the project of a railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow was revived and Messrs Grainger and Miller were appointed Engineers. Like the project in 1825, this scheme also failed. Grainger and Miller continued in partnership until 1845. They acted separately in all railway matters each taken the exclusive charge of laying out and executing the works of which each was specially entrusted.
In 1831, the Glasgow and Garnkirk line was opened for passengers and goods traffic and this gave a fresh impetus to the construction of railways in Scotland. In this year, Miller was again engaged in laying out the Edinburgh and Glasgow line and having completed the survey Mr George Stephenson was asked to go over the line with Miller and report on it. The report was favourable and in 1832, a bill for its construction was introduced into Parliament but was objected to by land owners who were then as a rule greatly opposed to having their estates cut up by railways.
Some of the many achievements by John Miller:
- Engineer for Dundee and Arbroath Railway 1835
- Engineer for Glasgow, Ayr & Kilmarnock Railway 1835
- Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway
- Edinburgh to Hawick section of the Waverley line to Carlisle
- Glasgow to Dumfries
- Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed — the first cross border rail link
- North British Railway
- The Dundee & Perth Railway
- Extension of Glasgow, Ayr & Kilmarnock to Dumfries and Gretna
- The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway and other lines
- In 1845, he was appointed Engineer by the contractors of the Direct Northern Railway extending from London to York
The 45 mile Edinburgh–Glasgow line stretch of railway made to Miller’s design from 1838 was Scotland's busiest and was an engineering marvel. The virtually level route enabled early steam trains which struggled with gradients to reach speeds of 30 miles per hour when it was opened in 1842.
Sir Frederick Smith, a government inspector at the time commented:
“There is no line in the kingdom which possesses such beautiful pieces of masonary and the whole of the bridges and viaducts appear to have been constructed with great care.”
In July 2004, a plaque was unveiled in Haymarket Station in Edinburgh dedicated to Miller inspired by Professor Roland Paxton of Heriot Watt University (who secured a portrait of Miller for the University from the Borders Council). The plaque was unveiled on Platform 4 – used by Glasgow-bound trains – by Sarah Boyack, the MSP and former Transport Minister.
Roddy Simpson writing in The Scotsman Magazine said:
“He has an enduring memorial in the railways he built still being used today, and especially the magnificent viaducts. ”
Introduction 