The mural is based around a short poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson ‘From a Railway Carriage’. ‘From a Railway Carriage’ by Robert Louis Stevenson: Faster than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; And charging along like troops in a battle, All through the meadows the horses and cattle: All of the sights of the hill and the plain Fly as thick as driving rain; And ever again, in the wink of an eye, Painted stations whistle by. Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, All by himself and gathering brambles; Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; And there is the green for stringing the daisies! Here is a cart run away in the road Lumping along with man and load; And here is a mill and there is a river: Each a glimpse and gone for ever! The poem itself is a visual description of the delight of a child’s rail journey through fast-changing countryside at an exciting pace. The poem’s phrasing echoes the cadence of a fast-moving train and the poem itself has a special extra resonance with Stevenson’s own close connections with Colinton Village through his many visits to his grandfather, the minister in Colinton Church. The final design concept meant that the words of the poem (along one side of the Tunnel) were complemented by the images contained in those words, all drawn from different parts of Colinton and Water of Leith history – rural, artistic, military and industrial. Learn more about the development of the Tunnel Mural here.