Powderhall Branch Junction

Location type

Junction

Names and dates

Piershill Junction (1868-1988)
Powderhall Branch Junction (1988-)

Opened on the North British Railway.
Opened on the Easter Road Deviation (North British Railway).

Description

This is the junction for the disused line to the Powderhall Destructor. Approach was from the east.

It was the eastern junction of a triangle of junctions leading to Granton and North Leith and the end of a loop line from Abbeyhill Junction.

The branch line was original double track. The junction was originally between two double track lines. The signal box was on the north side of the junction. Just to the west on the main line was St Margarets Shed and on the branch line Piershill station.

The junction was rebuilt in 1909 when the route east to Craigentinny Carriage Sidings was quadrupled. With this the line from Edinburgh Waverley was quadruple track as far as Portobello East Junction when improvements were completed. The northern pair of lines were goods lines and the southern passenger and goods.

The signal box was replaced with a larger building, also on the north side. The branch line became a quadruple track on the approach to the junction with two new lines laid to the north of the existing lines going east. Just to the east of the junction the main line connected to the new tracks eastbound.

The signal box was closed in 1966.

The main line is now double track only.

Tags

Junction

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map


Chronology Dates

01/10/1886Easter Road Deviation (North British Railway)
London Road Junction [Edinburgh] to Lochend Junction opened to passengers and freight. This line effectively quadrupled the main line of the North British Railway from Abbeyhill Junction to Piershill Junction and provided a useful diversionary route.
04/07/1909North British Railway
Piershill Junction to Craigentinny Junction quadrupled.
07/09/1964Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway
Edinburgh; Abbeyhill Junction to Piershill Junction loop closed to regular passenger trains. Piershill and Abbeyhill stations closed. (Coinciding with the closure of Musselburgh [1st].)
01/05/1972Leith Central Branch (North British Railway)
Leith Central (DMU servicing) to Abbeyhill Junction and Piershill Junction closed.
20/03/1988Easter Road Deviation (North British Railway)
Loop from Abbeyhill Junction to Lochend South Junction to Piershill Junction falls into disuse after the remodelling of Abbeyhill Junction in connection with the electrification of the East Coast Main Line.
  /  /1989Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway
Track singled from Piershill Junction to Powderhall, and the Abbeyhill route is disconnected at Lochend South Junction.
  /  /1989Easter Road Deviation (North British Railway)
The City of Edinburgh buys 13 bogie wagons for the rubbish carrying service from Powderhall to Kaimes Quarry, the 'binliner'. Powderhall to Piershill Junction re-opened to freight for refuse trains traffic.

News items

21/11/2022Scotland's Railway set for multi-million-pound investment this Christmas [Network Rail]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

Drem to Edinburgh: Including Gullane, Haddington, Tranent, Musselburgh and Fisherrow Branches (Scottish Main Lines)

Edinburgh St. Margaret's: The Story of the 'Other' Edinburgh Depot of the North British Railway 1845-1967

Exploring Disused Railways in East Scotland

Last Trains: Edinburgh and South East Scotland v. 1
LNER Wagons: Volume 3: Scottish Area: Ex North British and Ex-Great North of Scotland Railway Wagons
North British Railway in Northumberland, The

North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

North British Railway, Vol. 2 (Standard Railway History)

Signalling and Signal Boxes along the North British Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway and the CLC Routes

South East Scotland (British Railways Past & Present)

The Castle and the Bear: A Brief History of the North British Railway

The North British Railway a History
The North British Railway, Volume 1, One,
The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)

Vanished Railways of West Lothian