WE TAKE a look at the stories making headlines in East Lothian 25, 50 and 100 years ago.
25 years ago
RAILWAY vandals were making headlines in the East Lothian Courier on May 4, 2001.
Thousands of commuters found their journey delayed for up to 90 minutes last Tuesday after vandals damaged high-voltage rail cables near Prestonpans.
The disruption occurred at 1.50pm, bringing 28 trains travelling on the East Coast mainline to a halt as experts identified the area where the vandals had fused the overhead cables.
Transport police believe that young vandals had managed to short the 25,000 volt wires just south of Prestonpans.
One train was cancelled altogether, while another three were part cancelled, as they could not complete their journey.
The line was closed for two hours to allow engineers to make repairs, and services were restored at around 3.30pm, but delays continued to dog services well into the evening.
A spokeswoman for RailTrack said that they suspected children from the local school had caused the problem as it had occurred during the lunch hour and was off a well known path.
50 years ago
AS EAST Lothian prepared for the first community council elections, disagreements over procedure were reported in the East Lothian Courier on May 7, 1976.
The district council has agreed on a set of rules for the setting up of community councils within its area, but elections will be suspended during the holiday months of July and August.
This means that unless the Secretary of State approves East Lothian’s scheme within the next ten days or so, there will be no elections until September.
One suggestion, that there should be no postal votes, proxy arrangements or absent voters’ lists, caused some disquiet to Councillor W. Grant, Haddington.
He said there were many elderly and disabled people who would like to cast their votes.
Councillor T. White, Musselburgh, chairman of the district council, reminded him that postal votes involved a considerable procedure in ordinary elections and Councillor Grant asked whether these names were not kept on a register of postal voters.
100 years ago
THE 1926 General Strike was hitting hard – including impacting the May 7 edition of The Haddingtonshire Courier.
The Courier, like many other newspapers in the country, has been affected by the industrial crisis that has overtaken Britain, and we apologise to our readers for the incompleteness of this issue.
The Courier was first published in 1859, and it has never missed an issue.
East Lothian has suffered, as other parts of the country have suffered, in the great industrial calamity that has befallen.
No men are at work in the pits except the “safety” men. The railway transport service is disorganised, but supplies are being maintained by means of motor vehicles.
The strike will have results which cannot yet be realised.
It is to be hoped that an immediate settlement will be arrived at and that a lasting peace will be obtained.
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