IN 1896, crowds flocked to North Bridge, eager for a glimpse of the foundation stone that was being laid.

Waverley station was fast expanding and the bridge was being reconstructed to allow for major remodelling of the station.

The original stone-built bridge, comprising three stone arches spanning 1134ft, had been built in the late 1700s to link the Royal Mile and Edinburgh’s Old Town to Princes Street and the New Town.

It was replaced by a steel-girder construction in 1895 and, after the foundation stone was laid by the Lord Provost Andrew McDonald the following year, thousands took part in a masonic procession in Princes Street soon after.

ON TRACK: Waverley Bridge spans a much smaller station, pre-1859

Just five years later, a landmark building was erected at the corner of North Bridge and Princes Street in place of the Midland Railway building. Built as the North British Hotel by the rail company, it opened on October 15, 1902.

Now known as the Balmoral, its clock always runs a few minutes fast to make sure travellers catch their train.

As Edinburgh expanded, more access allowing connections between the north and south of the city was required.

The construction of the New Town had begun in 1767, primarily to allow the mass exodus of the gentry from the Old Town. This area of the city was suffering severe overcrowding, with an estimated 35,000 crammed into tenement dwellings in and around the Royal Mile.

As a result a competition was launched in 1764 to design an adjoining town, and the neo-classical splendour of the New Town was created in stages until the 1890s.

MAKE ROOM: Princes Street, 1895 - these buildings made way for what is now the Balmoral Hotel

The Old and New Towns were separated by a body of water known as the ‘Nor Loch’. Access was made easier by the construction of an artificial earthen mound. Rubble excavated from the foundations for new buildings on Princes Street was dumped into the valley and a rough causeway was created.

The Waverley Bridge was also originally just an embankment made of earth. Like the Mound, it developed to give access to the New Town and was originally known as ‘Little Mound’. In 1844, a proper stone bridge had been built and named Waverley, after Sir Walter Scott’s novels. It was built before the construction of Cockburn Street in 1859, and at this time, the bridge clearly ends at a T-junction. Only later would it be expanded to carry on up the curve of Cockburn Street to the High Street.

Waverley Bridge has remained an important road in Edinburgh, acting as the entry and exit points for pedestrians and vehicles accessing the station, and as a thoroughfare to Princes Street. The adjacent Waverley Market, above the station, remains popular with Edinburgh residents today in its modern incarnation, Princes Mall.

FAMILIAR: View from Waverley Bridge to Princes Street, 1906

And the top left picture looks towards the premises of Renton’s drapers and furnishers and RW Forsyth’s department store. Renton’s was previously the Edinburgh Hotel and was later demolished, becoming the site of the C&A building.

Photographs taken from Edinburgh New Town by Susan Varga.

September has always been a problem for equity investors. It’s the only month in which the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has averaged a decline from 1990 to the present, 1970 to the present, 1945 to the present, and 1929 to the present. In each of these periods, the S&P declined in September more than half the time.

Why the tendency toward a September slump? We believe the reasons could be as follows: 1) Investors returning from vacation see their portfolios in shambles, which results in further carnage; 2) a lack of capital inflows, as bonuses, tax refunds, and pension/IRA contributions already have largely taken place; 3) analysts reducing their full-year earnings estimates and target prices, as there is little time left in the year to make up projected shortfalls; 4) companies typically start the budgeting process after Labor Day, possibly dampening the mood of managers who communicate with investors; and finally, 5) mutual funds with October fiscal yearends may begin selling losing stocks.

Since 1990 (the date to which S&P 500 sector index data extends), the S&P 500 fell an average 0.8% and posted monthly declines 53% of the time. Also interesting is that six of the 500’s 10 sectors recorded negative average price changes in September, as well as frequencies of decline.

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S&P 500 Results in September Since 1990

S&P 500 Sectors

Avg. % Change

Avg. Freq. of Decline

Materials

(2.5)

59%

Consumer Discretionary

(1.6)

59%

Consumer Staples

(0.6)

59%

Information Technology

(1.7)

53%

Industrials

(1.1)

53%

Energy

0.7

53%

Health Care

0.9

47%

Financials

(0.6)

41%

Telecommunication Services

1.4

41%

Utilities

0.2

35%

S&P 500

(0.8)

53%

Source: Standard & Poor’s Equity Research

Of course, there is no guarantee that the market will tumble this time around. S&P believes the recent pullback in the S&P 500 from its July highs has probably gone as far as it will, even though another retest of the 1370 intraday low and 1406 closing levels may occur. Four Categories of Sell-Offs

I mention these seasonal weaknesses not in an attempt to fan investors’ fears but to alert them to these patterns, and to suggest they not react hastily and do harm to their portfolio’s longer-term potential return. If fear and greed dominate the near-term trading actions of many, I believe that a more complete understanding of stock price movements may serve as virtual Valium by calming jittery nerves enough to stop investors from becoming their own worst enemies.

General Motors («www.businessweek.com»; $30) and Ford («www.businessweek.com»; $8) are in contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, and a contract could be signed soon after the Sept. 14 expiration.

According to a wire-service report, the union has named GM its lead company, which means it will negotiate a new contract with GM and then ask Ford and «investing.businessweek.com» to accept the same terms. GM’s lead company status also means if there is a strike, its plants will be targeted.

Efraim Levy, senior automotive equity analyst for Standard & Poor’s, believes the contract should significantly lower labor-related costs and enhance the annual profitability of automakers over the expected four-year contract duration.

One reason comes down to health-care costs, which have been hurting the automakers for years. Levy believes the contract could establish a VEBA (Voluntary Employee Benefit Assn.) health-care fund. This move would, in Levy’s opinion, remove a major liability and annual expense for the automakers. However, expected benefits are partly reduced by the immediate costs to fund the VEBA and the reduced liquidity at the companies. Increased Financial Strength

Levy notes the reduced health-care costs that are likely to be brought about by this contract could lead to increased financial strength for the automakers, which, we think would lead to lower interest costs.

“Ultimately we need to see progress on the product side of the automakers’ businesses, or else they risk continuing the cycle of further production cuts and layoffs,” Levy says. “Despite the expected sizable annual savings from health care and other cost reductions via contract negotiations, the companies are still struggling to improve volume and market share and to establish sustained profitability. Thus, our opinion on the shares remains hold.”

Turning his thoughts to product development, Levy says both GM and Ford need to manufacture and sell products that consumers want to buy without the need to sell “the deal.” For example, GM is selling the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia crossover utilities with minimal incentives, because of the products’ inherent attractiveness.

“The companies need more of these,” says Levy. “Occasional hits are not enough, especially when domestic brand profit centers such as pickups and sport-utility vehicles are under attack from Toyota’s («www.businessweek.com»; $113) Tundra, weak housing markets, and higher gas prices.”

Toyota, like Ford and GM, carries a 3 STARS (hold) ranking from S&P.