- Railway and transport history of a unique line is the primary project focus
- Social and economic development of the upper Water of Leith communities (Colinton, Juniper Green, Currie and Balerno)
- Industrial and economic history of the mills of the Water of Leith
- Robert Louis Stevenson:
- Colinton connection through his Grandfather, Rev. Dr. Lewis Balfour, Minister of Colinton for 37 years
- “From a Railway Carriage” is a striking description of a child's rail journey - though RLS may not have travelled on the line
- Did Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Owen use the line to reach their meeting at Baberton Golf Club in October 1917 – 100 years ago?
- Wilfred Owen was a regular visitor to Colinton when a patient at Craiglockhart with Siegfried Sassoon and mentions it in letters to his Mother
- Phoebe Anna Traquair and many other notable residents would have used the line regularly
- Edwin G Lucas, Juniper Green and Hailes resident, painted many Pentlands landscapes featuring the line as well as travelling on it.
- This is a major opportunity to record the Army’s place in Colinton's community, from the opening of Redford Barracks (1919) onward
- Church and other picnics in the country from the city centre - the line was often called "the picnic line"
- Local Churches' history – 1095 onward!
- Roman raiders between 71-215 AD
- Evidence of Neolithic habitation in Spylaw (Axe Head)
- Many other famous (and infamous) local residents