Junction Road Station

Comparison of 1909 and 2011 photos

Junction Bridge

The two photos above show the same view, but were taken about 100 years apart. Both photos look NE down the old railway line as it passes under Great Junction Street, Leith.

The houses in the top left corner are the same in both photos, but the top of a new high-rise block of flats (one of two built off North Junction Street) can be seen in the background of the 2011 photo.

The old telegraph poles, gas light, railway lines, platform and stairs up to Great Junction Street have vanished. The route of the old railway line turning to the right under the bridge and following the Water of Leith is now a footpath and cycle track.

The tunnel entrance has been buried under an embankment on the left beyond the bridge. The stones at the top of the old tunnel entrance can can be found still in place in the embankment, beside the footpath from Coburg Street to the Water of Leith.

The View

The photograph, taken in 1909, looks to the NE, from the station beneath Great Junction Street, close to its junction with Ferry Road.

This view looks through the bridge under Great Junction Street and towards the tunnel as the line heads towards its terminus at Leith Citadel Station, across the road from Leith Nautical College at Commercial Street, Leith.

Leith Citadel Station

Bridge over the Railway

The view below is taken from street level, looking across Junction Bridge to the NW, towards North Junction Street and Leith Harbour. This photo comes from the same collection as the photo at the top of this page. It was also taken in 1909:

Junction Bridge

Acknowledgement: Archie Foley, Joppa, Edinburgh: January 14, 2010

The photo at the top of this page is one of a series of photos posted onto boards in an old album that Archie Foley acquired a few years ago. Archie believes that these are likely to be official photos that probably once belonged to Leith City Council.

Reply

David King

Trinity, Edinburgh

Thank you to David King who wrote:

Junction Road Station

"Junction Road Station was an odd station in one way – although on the maps it looks as though it had a double track through it, they were in reality two parallel single lines, and the station only had one platform.

Presumably because of the very tight layout at North Leith (which became Leith Citadel after nationalisation) passenger trains both ways used the east track and goods trains used the west track - reversible running in modern jargon!"

David King, Trinity, Edinburgh: January 24, 201

North Leith Station

Thank you to David for also telling me about a signal box diagram showing the track lay-out at North Leith Station (later, re-named as Leith Citadel Station).

This is one of the many signal box diagrams that can be found on the Signalbox web site.

Reply

David King

Trinity, Edinburgh

I asked David King what he could tell me about the railway track that led around to the right after passing under Great Junction Street and followed the bank of the Water of Leith in this photo.

That's the way the footpath and cycle track now lead.

David replied:

Coal Depot

"The track that curved to the right led to three sidings which formed the Coal Depot, locally known as ‘the coalie’. It was entered down a setted ramp from Coburg Street, just about opposite the junction with Couper Street. (The entrance through the stone wall along Coburg Street and the ramp are still there.)"

David King, Trinity, Edinburgh: January 25, 201

Reply

Frank Ferri

Trinity, Edinburgh

Thank you to Frank Ferri who wrote:

1939-58

Station and Coal Yard

"I lived only 50 yards from here, at Ballantyne Road, from 1939 to 1958. I remember well when it was a station. The coal yard at the Coalie belonged to Cormack the coal merchant. I refer to it im my story relating to the Winter of 1947.

"In the late-1950s and early-1960s, the upper part of the station was turned in to a newsagents. Directly across the road from it, there was another shop overhanging the railway line, selling ladies lingerie."

Frank Ferri, Newhaven, Edinburgh: January 25, 2011