Reporting by Angus Simpson.

As the centenary of the Armistice is marked this weekend, one of the most poignant memorials will remember the worst rail disaster in British history.

A total of 216 Royal Scots soldiers lost their lives in the Gretna rail crash on May 22, 1915.

The multi-train crash happened at the Quintinshill signal box as territorial soldiers from the 7th Battalion left Larbert, heading south en route to battle in Gallipoli.

More than half of them could not have known they would never leave Scotland.

Most of the lost soldiers were from Leith in Edinburgh and Saturday's memorial service at The Shore has been organised in their memory.

It is allied to an exhibition of memorabilia called Leith's War at the nearby Malmaison Hotel.

This was a black day in the long history of Leith.

It was said there was not a family in the close-knit community untouched by the tragedy, although the additional loss of young men from Musselburgh, Portobello and elsewhere also made this Edinburgh's disaster.

Few of the bodies could be identified so, two days later, 101 coffins were carried in procession to be buried, three deep, in a mass grave in Rosebank Cemetery on the then-boundary between Leith and Edinburgh.

The commemoration also includes a restored coach of the type involved in the disaster, which is on display all weekend.

Heavy wartime traffic and a shortage of rolling stock meant the Army had commandeered obsolete wooden carriages, heated by an outdated gaslight system.

While many of the soldiers died from injuries in the collision with two other trains, most of them died after being trapped in a raging fire.

Retired finance director, Dick Allen from Edinburgh, tells the story of how his grandfather, Sgt William Allen, died in the crash and remains one of the few people not to be buried in the mass grave.

His body was unidentified and taken to Carlisle. Thanks to a local historian, it was discovered many years later and is now buried in a family plot at Warriston Cemetery.

Mention should also be made of the 62 survivors who carried on to Liverpool to travel by troop carrier to Gallipoli.

Although some of them were later killed in action, they were proud to take the thanks of their communities and the courage of their comrades into battle.