Railways around Leith - North British Railway

Starting Point - Foot of the Walk Tram Stop, Leith. Finishing Point - Site of Warriston Junction. Distance - 2.7 Miles

Leith is a suburb of Edinburgh to the north of the centre and home to the city's docks. As such it was well connected by railways with the North British Railway and Caledonian Railway both having multiple routes between Edinburgh and Leith. In the 1960s it lost all passenger services and the docks declined leaving Leith itself facing decline in the following decades of the 20th Century. In more recent years the Royal Yacht Britannia has brought tourism to Leith and areas of former docklands have been regenerated with shops, apartments and offices. The Scottish Government has office buildings on a former dock warehouse site. The new tram route from Edinburgh has also improved connections.

Below - 1905 Railway Clearing House map of the area (taken from Wikipedia, Public Domain). The North British lines are in Blue and the Caledonian in red.

Rail Map Online

Google Maps

1914 Map

Below - The tram stop for the central shopping area of Leith is the "Foot of the Walk" stop on a pedestrianised part of Constitution Street. The tramway at this point is following an original tram route. It was largely the use of trams to reach the centre of Edinburgh rather than the railway lines that led to the early closure of Leith Central station.

Just south of the Foot of the Walk tram stop is what was once the main passenger station for Leith, the North British Railway's Leith Central.

LEITH CENTRAL

Leith Central station opened in 1903 and closed in 1952, it had four platforms.

Below - The station building of Leith Central station survives today.

Below - The station building seen from the south side. Leith Central was a terminus station with platforms at first floor level, the former access to the platforms can be seen on the right. The platforms were once covered with a large overall roof. 

After the station closed to the public it was used until 1972 to stable diesel multiple units that started and finished in passenger service at Edinburgh Waverley. In the years of dereliction that followed it became a notorious hang out for drug addicts, the film Trainspotting gets its name from the site.

Below - The former platform entrances where the glass building can be seen.

Below - The former taxi entrance off Crown Place.

Below - The platform level has been removed and a Tesco supermarket built at ground level. In the car park the retaining wall can be seen. It is evident where the level of the track was. On the right a tenement block can be seen, note how the middle of the block is a lighter colour, this is where the gap through which the railway passed has been filled with a more modern section of building.          

The short branch between Leith Central and Abbeyhill Junction to the east of Edinburgh Waverley has been built on so I went instead to other remains of the North British Railway in the area.

Heading north along Constitution Street (following the tram line) brings us to the site of one of the earliest railway stations, South Leith.

SOUTH LEITH

1896 Map

South Leith station dated back to 1832, just called Leith station a the time, and can be seen on the corner of Constitution Street and Tower Street on the old map above. It closed in 1846, reopened as South Leith in 1859 and finally closed in 1903 when Leith Central opened. The site has been redeveloped and there is nothing to be seen of the early station. The tramway crosses the site as it continues along Constitution Street.

West of South Leith stations were Victoria Dock, West Old Dock and East Old Dock. West Old Dock and East Old Dock have been filled in and car parking built on the site. The former dock front on the south side of these docks is now Commercial Quay and rails can be seen set in to the road. The former warehouse between the site of Victoria Dock and East Old Dock is now the site of Scottish Government offices.

Below - Pictures heading east to west along Commercial Quay showing tracks set in to the former dockside now taken up by car parking.

Below - The line curving off to the left headed towards North Leith station and its goods shed.

Below - The point on the left was for a siding alongside the warehouses. On the 1895 map above the lines ran straight ahead and across the road to connect with the Caledonian Railway at their North Leith station and goods shed. By the time of the 1908 map the curve further up round the end of West Old Dock to reach Victoria Dock was added. By the 1933 map the connection across the road to the Caledonian Railway was removed, both railways by that time being part of the London & North Eastern Railway. Wagons could still reach the former Caledonian Railway line via a connection on the approach to Victoria Dock.

NORTH LEITH

North Leith station opened in 1846 and closed to passengers in 1947, it closed to freight in 1968. In 1952 the name of the site was changed to Leith Citadel, probably to avoid confusion with Leith North on the former Caledonian line.

Below -  The former North Leith station building.

Below - The former public house that adjoined the station building.

Below - site of the platforms at North Leith. Houses have been built on the former goods shed site.

South of the station the tracks went in tunnel under Couper Street and Coburg Street. In front of the former tunnel mouth a staircase has been built to give pedestrian access between Couper Street and the houses on the goods yard site.

Below - Retaining wall on the approach to the tunnel seen from the staircase that hides the tunnel mouth.

From Coalie Park, established on the former Coal Depot site, the Water of Leith Path follows the former North British Railway Line as far as Bonnington.

Below - Information board in Coalie Park (click to enlarge).

JUNCTION ROAD

Below - Site of the railway passing under Junction Bridge. Junction Road station was just beyond the station.

Below - Looking back towards North Leith from the site of Junction Road station.

Below - A path in North Leith Public Park, now Keddie Park, that ended at the edge of the railway cutting has been extended with steps to join the path on the former railway.

Below - South Fort Street bridge. On the left was the rail connected Junction Mills.

Below - Industrial buildings on Pitt Street along the railway cutting.

1914 Map (top left of page)

Below - Former goods branch on the left to various industrial sites in the area.

BONNINGTON

Below - The former Bonnington Station.

Below - The main station building on the left on the former Edinburgh bound platform.

Below - The bridge taking Newhaven Road over the station site.

Below - The bridge has been widened on both sides. The steps to the road from the plaform can be seen on the left. It looks like there was a waiting shelter here before the bridge was widened.

Below - Remains of the viaduct that carried the Caledonian Railway's goods line around Leith over a three way junction on the North British here and over the Water of Leith river.

Below - What appears to be a pier of the Caledonian viaduct.

The three way junction I mentioned was two sides of a triangle with the North British Railway's Abbeyhill to Granton line. The side of the triangle south towards Abbeyhill crossed the Water of Leith twice using two bridges and a stretch of embankment. These have gone so I didn't follow this path which instead now follows the river as a continuation of the Water of Leith path. At the southern end of the triangle junction was Powederhall station. Beyond Powderhall the line to Abbeyhill remained in use for waste traffic in to the 21st Century and the now disused trackbed is not accessible. The side of the triangle north towards Granton has been built on. I headed straight on along what now becomes the Warriston Path.

Below - The former flat crossing with the North British Railway's Abbeyhill to Granton line. This is the other side of the triangular junction and this part of the route is a footpath most of the way from Powderhall to Granton so I'll go back at some point for that route.

Below - Bridge taking Warriston Road over the former railway.

Below - Bridge over a road within Warriston Cemetery with ornate decorations.

Below - The former Warriston Junction looking towards the NBR's line from Edinburgh Canal Street / Scotland Street to Granton with the line that I have just walked from North Leith on the right.

Below - Viaduct over the Water of Leith and Warriston Road.

SCOTLAND STREET

From Warriston Junction the line continued to Edinburgh Canal Street station next to the site of the present day Edinburgh Waverley station (a plaque marks the location) via a couple of tunnels. I hadn't realised that the tunnel between Broughton Road and Scotland Street is now open and I returned to Leith from Warriston Junction. At some point I'll check out the site of Scotland Street on another visit to the area.

Scotland Street had a station and goods yard. The station closed in 1868 when the next stretch of tunnel to Edinburgh Canal Street which had been worked by rope and winding engine was closed. The goods yard continued in use. On the RCH Map above the truncated Scotland Street Goods branch can be seen.

Once returned to Leith I continued exploring old railways around Leith with the former Caledonian Railway lines.

 

Selby's 1834 Railway Station

A short walk from Selby station to visit one of the best surviving early railway stations.

SELBY

The first mainline railway route in Yorkshire was the Leeds and Selby Railway which opened in 1834. The plan had always been for the line to continue to Hull, in fact the Leeds and Hull Railroad Co was formed in 1824, before the concept of connecting distant cities with railway lines had been practically demonstrated by the Stockton & Darlington. The inspiration being the Middleton colliery railway in Leeds that had been running steam trains since 1812, it is believed that the line's engineer John Blenkinsop was an anonymous correspondent in the letters of the Leeds Mercury (forerunner to the Yorkshire Post) calling for the line to be built.

The scaled down Selby scheme involved trains meeting boats for Hull on a wharf next to the passenger terminus and goods sheds on Ousegate. The railway offered day trips to Hull by train and boat but the railway was primarily aimed at freight traffic between the mines and mills of West Yorkshire and the port at Hull. Coal from the Leeds and Garforth areas could also be loaded in to boats to supply to Hull, the mine owners at Garforth were shareholders in the railway.

Below - Advert for a Railway and Steam Packet trip to Hull from the lner.info page.

With the Leeds to Selby stretch in operation the capital was soon raised to push on to Hull and in 1840 a new station opened alongside the original station leading to a railway bridge over the River Ouse and onwards to Hull. The original terminus was therefore fairly short lived as a terminus station and was subsequently used entirely for goods traffic and as such was still rail connected in to the late 20th Century, being sold by British Railways and continuing in private ownership with Viking Shipping. Viking Shipping still use the former goods shed but the site is no longer rail connected. It is however one of the best preserved stations from the very early days of railways. More information about the site can be found on the Disused Stations website and on lner.info.

Being located alongside the passenger station it is just a short walk from the current railway station.

1851 Map

Google Map

Below - Map of the original terminus station site from the Disused Stations page. The labels aren't very clear but the passenger lines were the two lines in the centre that didn't continue on to the wharf (passengers would cross the road for the ferry). The station didn't have platforms, passengers would have to step up and down to the carriages from track level. The pairs of track either side of the passenger track were for goods and continued through large doors in the front of the building to the wharf. The tracks further to the left (which is to the east as this map is upside down with North to the bottom) handled the coal traffic.

Below - The front of the building on Ousegate. The doors of the original goods lines to the wharf are on either side. The two single doors in the centre (one of which is bricked up) were added after the passenger trains moved to the new station. Above the doors the lintels of four bricked up windows can be seen where the passenger part of the station was. 

Below - The road entrance to the former goods yard.

Below - The east side of the buildings. A buffer stop from the former sidings has been retained in the car park.

Below - An information plaque on the front of the former station.

Below - The former wharf, now buried under vegetation (even in winter). The remains of the quays can be seen from the river side and from passing trains crossing the river on the bridge.

Below - The eastern end of the wharves. The wharf also continued between the Ouse and Ousegate up to the road bridge over the river. A railway line ran along the wharf accessed by wagon turntables so that wagons could be positioned close to the boats they were intended for. The area of wharf between the rail and road bridges has since been built on.

Below - The west side of the building seen from the Leeds bound platform of the later through station.

Below - The modern Selby station which once had through lines in the centre as the station was on the East Coast Main Line until it was diverted west of Selby to avoid coal mining subsidence in the Selby area.

I have also visited the site of Leeds Marsh Lane station (just a gate post of the original terminus station there) on my look at Leeds Stations and also the Aberford Fly Line that connected mines around Garforth. On an explore of Hull's Humber Dock and Victoria Dock I visited the site of the 1840 Hull Manor Street station. I've also visited the other notable surviving 1830s railway station Manchester Liverpool Road in my Manchester Stations explore.

Euston

A visit to some of the abandoned remains of Euston station from before the 1960s rebuild on a Hidden London Tour.

1916 Map

Open Street Map

Euston was London's first inter city railway terminus, opening in 1837. London would go on to have several railway termini built around the edges of the city where land was more readily available. They went on to be connected by the Underground railway system, originally built as several independent lines. Euston had two lines on the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now the Northern Line Charing Cross Branch) and the City & South London Railway (now the Northern Line Bank Branch). Each had its own station building above ground and lifts to the platforms below as well as an underground passage connecting the two lines and an entrance from the mainline station. On the old map above both of the underground stations can be seen either side of the mainline station, marked at "Euston Sta. (Elec. Ry.)." Naturally most passengers entered and exited the underground stations at the entrance from the mainline station itself rather than across the roads outside and the separate station buildings were closed in 1914. In the 1960s Euston station was rebuilt and the Victoria line was added to the Underground network. Euston underground station was rebuilt with one big ticket hall and escalators accessed from beneath the new mainline station concourse. Some of the abandoned parts of the old stations have been largely untouched since the redevelopment and I visited on one of the London Transport Museum's Hidden London tours.

After meeting the tour group next to the mainline station we were taken to the former CCE&HR station building on the west side of the mainline station. 

Below - The former CCE&HR station building built to the distinctive Leslie Green design with its trademark terracotta tiles. It stood on the corner of Drummond Street and Melton Street but is now within the site for the new station for high speed trains to Birmingham on HS2. The building survived as it was reused for an electrical substation. It will likely be demolished for the HS2 works, though at least there are several other examples of buildings of this design with it being a standard design.

We entered the underground station from the Bank Branch southbound platform (which actually runs west to east under the mainline station). 

Originally the Bank Branch lines had an island platform between the two lines, as passenger numbers grew this became quite dangerous if there was crowding on a platform with a running line on either side. When the station was rebuilt in the 60s the northbound line was re-routed and each line had its own platform. The Victoria line was built between the Northern line platforms allowing easy connection between the two routes.

On the west end of the platform there used to be an exit towards the lifts for the mainline station and connection to the Charring Cross branch platforms. This and a stub of the original northbound line tunnel are concealed behind doors at the end of the platform. 

Below - Map on display after entering the abandoned tunnel showing the original layout of Euston underground station, we have entered the disused tunnels from west end of the platform running west to east around the centre of the map.

Below - The former northbound Bank branch line, occasionally sleepers could be seen in the floor.

Below - A cavern where the north and south bound running tracks met, the roof of a southbound Bank branch train can be seen passing. The northbound tunnel is blocked off, beyond here the diverted tunnel joins the original alignment.

We returned to the active southbound Bank branch platform and next door to the panel concealing the former northbound track another panel conceals the former exit from the old island platform towards the mainline station and connection to the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - The disused steps up from the platform. 

Below - The disused passage towards the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - Several posters from the time can still be seen on the walls.

Below - Poster announcing the reconstruction work that would see this passageway abandoned.

Below - With the Bank and Charring Cross branches originally being run by different companies people originally needed separate tickets for each route, on the passageway connecting the two lines there was a ticket window.

Below - Inside the little ticket kiosk between the two routes.

Below - Some more of the posters along the tunnel walls.

Below - Former exit to the east end (north direction) of the Charring Cross branch platform. The Charring Cross branch was nearer the surface than the Bank branch so there have been a few sets of stairs between the two.

The entrances at the west end of the platforms would have led to the lifts up to the station building we saw above ground earlier. In 1914 when that closed all passengers would have used this entrance and another one nearby which led directly to the lifts to the station, which we will come to later.

We returned to where the passageway to the Charring Cross branch platforms met the passageway to the lifts to the mainline station.

Below - A couple more posters.

Below - The plan of the original station shows a room on the east side of the passageway to the lifts. This was a second world was bunker for the London Midland & Scottish Railway's offices that had been built on the site of the C&SLR (the later Charring Cross branch) station building in 1934. The tunnel for this bunker was later used to connect ventilation passages from above the Victoria line platforms to the old lift shafts which became ventilation shafts. This was a doorway to the southern end of the bunker.

Below - Entrances to the lifts up to Euston mainline station.

Below - The lift shafts, since used as a ventilation shaft. When the underground network was built it was thought that electric trains wouldn't need ventilation like steam trains did. Electric trains create quite a bit of heat though if it isn't ventilated. What happened at a lot of stations was that the lifts were replaced with escalators which were invented later and were much better for moving large numbers of people. The former lift shafts were than used as ventilation shafts.

Below - The east side of the lifts. The filled in passage would have led directly to the Charring Cross branch platforms, forming a triangle of passageways.

Heading south from the lift shafts we pass the former WW2 bunker and in to tunnels added in the 60s to ventilate the new Victoria Line platforms.

Below - Looking down to the platform as a train passes.

Below - On the west side of the lift shafts people would have passed this poster exiting the lifts and heading for the Charring Cross branch platforms. It advertises the Midland Pullman, a prestigious service from Manchester that went to St Pancras rather than Euston. This was a key link while work to modernise Euston and electrify the West Coast mainline was carried out. 

Below - An Information board near the blocked off passage from the lifts to the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - A couple more posters in a stub of the route towards the Charring Cross branch from the lifts from the mainline station.

We returned to the Bank branch southbound platform and out through the escalators and large underground ticket hall of the 1960s version of the underground station. This itself is now getting overcrowded and will probably need further improvements if or when whatever is left of the HS2 program is completed. Back in day light I checked out a couple of remnants of the mainline station from before the 60s rebuild.

Below - One of the last remnants of the original station is the Lodge Houses on Euston Road. Looking at the old maps these flanked Euston Grove which approached the station and entered the station through the famous demolished Euston Arch, roughly where the 1960s building over the modern concourse can be seen. A couple of streets of houses stood between here and the station, since cleared for the bus station. On the right hand side a list of destinations of the railway can be seen on the corner of the building.

Below - Between Lancing Street and Doric Way is Euston House, the 1934 built head offices of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. The building is now in non-railway use. Doric Way was previously the eastern end of Drummond Street which was severed when the station was rebuilt in the 1960s, it ran roughly where the northern edge of the concourse leads to the platforms today. On the corner of Eversholt Street and Drummond Street / Doric Way was the street level building of the C&SLR tube station, the left corner of the building below, built on the site of that and various shops and houses. 

 Visiting Euston today the concourse is hectic, though much more circulating space was created in the 1960s rebuild. A reminder that however sad the loss of the old station and the arch was it was necessary to meet the needs of the time just as the even more controversial HS2 is needed to meet the needs of the time now.