page_title: Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway
section_title: The twentieth century
hierarchical_section_title: Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway / History / The twentieth century
caption_attribution_description: Railway Junctions in Edinburgh, Granton, Haymarket &amp; Leith pre grouping
context_page_description: The Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway was a railway company formed in 1836 to connect the city of Edinburgh with the harbours on the Firth of Forth. When the line connected to Granton, the company name was changed to the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway. It opened part of its route in 1846, but reaching the centre of Edinburgh involved the difficult construction of a long tunnel; this was opened in 1847. It was on a steep incline and was worked by rope haulage.
  The rope-worked tunnel proved a major handicap, and after the company had been taken over by the North British Railway, a longer but more convenient route was built round the eastern edge of the city at Abbeyhill. It opened in 1868.
  By the end of the nineteenth century the Leith station was unsuitable for the developing suburban passenger traffic, and a new branch to Leith Central station was built, opening in 1903.
  All of the original route has been dismantled, except part of the line from Piershill to a waste consolidation depot at Powderhall which remained in use until it closed in 2016.
context_section_description: In 1902 a short westward connection was made at Granton, serving Granton Gas Works. Joining in the Granton Harbour railway network, goods interchange with the Caledonian Railway also took place at Granton over the harbour lines, as for some decades the two companies had no direct connection in Edinburgh (other than the Haymarket connection which was unsuitable for goods wagon transfer due to congestion).
  The development of passenger tramways in the Edinburgh conurbation in the early years of the twentieth century eroded the suburban railway business, and when economies were required during World War I, Powderhall and Leith Walk stations were closed at the beginning of 1917. Powderhall never reopened, but Leith Walk opened again on 1 February 1919. The tramways were electrified and unified in 1920, and the competition from them assumed new levels, further reducing the ridership of suburban lines.
  The Granton route was closed in 1925. Leith Walk station finally closed on 31 March 1930. The passenger service from North Leith to Waverley was closed on 16 June 1947.
  The railways of Great Britain had been "grouped" in 1923 following the Railways Act 1921 and the North British Railway was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway. In turn that company was taken into national ownership on the nationalisation of the railways in 1948.
  Easter Road Park Halt was opened in 1950, for football traffic to the nearby Hibernian F.C. ground, but by this time the Leith Central branch was nearing its end: on 7 April 1952 the timetabled passenger service closed, although the Easter Road football special trains continued until 1967. There was no goods traffic, but the large layout there served as a carriage depot, and from 1957 it became the principal diesel multiple unit servicing depot in Edinburgh. That use ceased on 29 April 1972 and the station buildings were demolished in 1988.
  When the Leith Central branch closed to passengers, Piershill and Abbeyhill stations continued in use by trains leaving the main line for the loop, but they too closed on 7 September 1964. The loop line was retained and used as a diversion for slower trains, and during the 1986 Commonwealth Games a temporary passenger station called Meadowbank Stadium was built for the duration of the games; it was on the site of the earlier Piershill station. It was used occasionally for special events afterwards, but became disused on electrification of the East Coast Main Line in 1989.
  The embankment along the shore from Trinity to Granton was removed and landscaped in the 1990s.
  Granton gas works continued to forward outward goods traffic, chiefly naphtha, sporadically until 1986.
  The former Leith North station building is one of the remaining structures from the original line. It is now (2015) occupied by the Citadel Youth Centre.
caption: Map showing Edinburgh railways in 1905
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