Skulferatu #101 - Abandoned Railway Bridge, Powderhall, Edinburgh

I like abandoned places.  I especially like finding a gap in a fence so I can go for a wander into an abandoned place that I’ve seen before, but have been unable to get into.  Today, on a walk along the Water of Leith, I found just such a gap in the fencing around a now defunct railway line. Squeezing through, I then took a walk along it.  Though it only went out of service seven or eight years ago it was now quite overgrown, and the wooden sleepers were rotting away.  In the wildflowers growing all around the railway insects buzzed noisily and in the trees above the birds sang their little hearts out.

 

Defunct railway line

 

Dandelion growing by the tracks

 

Old railway line

 

I walked along the railway to a bridge that crossed the Water of Leith.  It had also been fenced off to stop access, though again some kindly soul had removed a couple of the metal bars to allow access.  A slightly tighter squeeze through and I was on the rusting iron bridge.  Beneath me the waters of the river gently ambled by in their shallow, summery way.  Mama duck and her half dozen ducklings paddled by, and small fish darted down and away.  Nature was reclaiming this area for itself. 

 

Abandoned railway bridge

 

Finding a gap in the fence on the other side of the bridge, I scrambled down the riverbank, under the bridge and onto a narrow, trodden path by the river.  It wound through the wild garlic that seemed to cover most of the riverbank, and then up and around areas where the mud of the bank had collapsed into the water below.  Eventually the path became a narrow line at the river’s edge and then crumbled away into nothing.  Not particularly wanting to end up in the river, I made my way back to the bridge and the old railway track.

 

Abandoned railway bridge

 

Bridge and beams

 

Bridge and beams

 

Rivets and graffiti

 

View of Water of Leith from the bridge

 

Machine with knobs

 

The railway track was once part of the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Line of the North British Railway.  The line was closed in 1968, however part of it was later reopened to serve Powderhall Refuse Depot. 

 

At Powderhall there used to be an incinerator and a large chimney.  Rubbish was burnt in the incinerator and the chimney pumped out poisonous smoke all over the surrounding area of Edinburgh.  The city council eventually decided that this was maybe not such a great idea and the role of the refuse depot then changed.  Instead of burning the refuse, the depot compacted it into containers.  These containers were then loaded on to trains, locally known as ‘Binliners’, and taken away to a landfill site. Over 250,000 tons of refuse from Edinburgh was processed in this way each year. 

 

Powderhall Refuse Depot

 

Powderhall Refuse Depot closed in 2016 and has now been demolished.  A housing estate is being built on the land it once occupied.

 

Wandering around the railway I found an old metal box, connected to some wires that must have once served some useful purpose.  What that purpose was, I have no idea.  I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk on a knob on the metal box.

 

Skulferatu #101

 

Skulferatu #101 on a knob on the metal box

 

Skulferatu #101 on a knob on the metal box

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #101

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.96813

Longitude -3.189598

 

what3words: sands.loudly.chase

 

 

Skulferatu #23 - West Breakwater Lighthouse and Signal Tower, Leith Docks, Edinburgh

 

West Breakwater Lighthouse

 

This abandoned and now derelict lighthouse sits on a concrete platform at the West Breakwater of Leith Docks.  It was built in the 1950s and on the flat roof there was a massive semaphore device for signalling to ships out in the Forth.  The building fell out of use due to advances in technology and changes in shipping routes.  Today it is derelict and empty, weather battered and stripped bare. It is usually decorated with graffiti, though every so often the council come along and whitewash the building and resecure the fence around it. 

 

Walkway to West Breakwater Lighthouse

The lighthouse is now derelict and abandoned

 

Graffiti on the abandoned lighthouse

The lighthouse tower

 

 

Concrete support pillars underneath the lighthouse

 

I’ve always thought the lighthouse is a building that could have a second life as something…maybe a trendy café or restaurant.  However, given the practical difficulties and costs involved in this sort of transformation, it will probably just crumble away until one day the bulldozers come in and knock it down.

 

I left a Skulferatu under the lighthouse, at the back of the space created by the supporting pillars.

 

Skulferatu #23

Skulferatu #23 at West Breakwater Lighthouse

 

TomTom Map showing location of Skulferatu #23

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

Latitude 55.988837

Longitude -3.185501

 

Skulferatu #21 - Stink Vent, St Mark's Park, Water of Leith, Edinburgh

On a day of sunshine and snowstorms I went for a walk along the Water of Leith and the railway paths that run around it.  On my way back I passed through St Mark’s Park and along the path under the old railway there.  This brought me out into a rather picturesque area near a weir and what appears to be an old, industrial era chimney standing on its own.

 

Tunnel from pathway at St Mark’s Park leading to Water of Leith

 

The Water of Leith

Not a chimney, but a stink vent

This chimney is not at what it first seems.  Look around it.  There are no openings at the bottom where one would expect to see space for a fire to burn or where pipes were once connected.  That is because this chimney is not in fact a chimney.  It is a sewage vent or a stink vent.  It is part of the 1864 interceptor sewer that was built to connect to earlier sewage systems in Edinburgh and carry raw sewage out into the River Forth.  It carried on doing this until the 1970s when the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works was built.

 

The stink vent was an important part of the sewage system as it acted as a safety valve and released the noxious and inflammable sewer gases that would build up in the system.  It was built nice and high so that the wind would carry off any obnoxious smells.

The stink vent

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a tree not far from the stink vent and with a nice view of the Water of Leith.

 

Skulferatu #21

 

Skulferatu #21 in tree near to stink vent and Water of Leith

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #21

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

Latitude 55.968462

Longitude -3.189978