In the fork of the Gilmerton and Liberton Roads from about 1840 ,
stood the old joiner's or wright's workshop of Alexander Good, who gave
his name to this junction still carried by a nameplate in the wall -
Good's Corner.
Just behind Good's shop was a straggle of old houses known as
the Bawbee Houses, because of a long-standing advertisement on the
gable of one of them which read 'walth o' straw, five bawbees a
wunlin'.

Good's
Corner was an early southern terminus of the Edinburgh cable trams,
which operated by lowering a gripper into the continuously moving chain
under the road, in order to propel them around the city. The method was
thought ideal for an urban terrain as hilly as Edinburgh's, superceding
the horse-drawn variety which had been so challenged by the gradients.
The chain which ran to Nether Liberton from Shrubhill in Leith Walk,
installed on April 18th 1900 was one of the longest in the city, with a
3.5 inch circumference, and an amazing 33,500 feet in length! But the
system proved unreliable, and eventually, the trams were electrified
using overhead trolleys, the cable ceasing to roll at 3.55pm on June
20th 1922. Within a few years the tram route was extended up Liberton
Brae to terminate at Kirk Liberton.
We are grateful to Colin Symes for Liberton information reproduced from his website - www.colinsymes.u-net.com.
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