the line was open throughout to Hawick. For the time being Learmonth's objective of a line reaching Carlisle, which was later to become the Waverley Route, was on hold. Early branches The NBR obtained Parliamentary authority in 1846 to build numerous branches off its main line and off the Hawick line. Not all of these were built, but in addition to the Haddington branch, which had opened contemporaneously with the main line, several were opened in the period to 1855. These were: a branch to Musselburgh, formed by extending the E&DR Fisherrow branch across the River Esk; this opened on 16 July 1847; Fisherrow was reduced to goods status only, and the Musselburgh station on the main line was renamed Inveresk; a short mineral branch to Tranent, opened in 1849; the North Berwick branch from Drem, opened in 1850; the Dunse branch line, opened in 1849; Dunse was later spelt Duns; a branch to Kelso from St Boswells on the Hawick line, opened in 1850. Competition The Caledonian Railway had been able to offer a through rail service without change of train via Carstairs since March 1848. The fastest trains between the two capitals on both routes then took a little over hours; the East Coast journey included the two transshipments, at the Tweed and the Tyne. and the cheaper steamship service between Leith and London still took the bulk of the passenger traffic. Mineral traffic, in particular coal from the Lothian coalfield, was the largest source of revenue, although delivery to the West Coast harbours and the developing iron smelting industry in the Monklands was problematical. The fall of Learmonth The Chairman of the North British Railway was John Learmonth. From the outset he had seen that expansion of the North British Railway was the way forward, and with allies on the Board he had invested heavily, both personally and through the company, in subscriptions to other railways. In some cases this was to extend the system profitably, but in many it was simply to keep rival lines, especially the Caledonian Railway, out. For some time shareholder opinion was with him, but over time disquiet took hold when the scale of the commitments was disclosed. In 1851, North British Railway £25 shares were trading at £6 (). At a shareholders meeting in 1851 it was pointed out that when the Company's network had been 89 miles in extent revenue