Skulferatu #73 - East Trinity Road Railway Tunnel, Trinity Path, Edinburgh

I often walk or cycle along the old railway paths that crisscross Edinburgh.  If I’m heading down to Newhaven I’ll take the Trinity Path, which goes through the damply fascinating Trinity Tunnel or East Trinity Road Railway Tunnel to give it its full name.  The tunnel and the path were once part of the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway which operated from around 1840 until 1986. 

 

East Trinity Road Railway Tunnel

 

The tunnel is 390 feet long and passes under East Trinity Road and several houses.  It has a horseshoe opening and is constructed of sandstone, and have I mentioned it is very, very damp?  Water oozes down the walls resulting in some fascinating crumbling grooves, rust coloured mud and lots of mini stalactite type blobs.  Some of the oozing, dissolving stone looks almost soft and as if it is an organic, living thing.  A weird alien life form escaping from the hewn rocks that were used to build the structure.

 

Metal hook on the tunnel wall

 

The tunnel is very, very damp

 

Moisture is life

Multicoloured slime and ooze

 

Multicoloured slime and ooze

 

Multicoloured slime and ooze

 

Some of the dissolving stone looks almost like a living thing

 

Rusty hook in oozing tunnel wall

 

Smiley Face Graffiti

 

From late spring onwards the dark cavities and grooves of the oozing stone are occupied by thousands of little spiders who hang from thin threads waiting for their prey…or any inquisitive arachnophobes who get too close.

 

Stalactites on the tunnel walls

Stalactites on the tunnel walls

 

Stalactites on the tunnel walls

 

Tendrils and moss

 

The remains of an old sign being absorbed into the tunnel walls

 

Moss on the tunnel walls

 

Graffiti in the tunnel walls

 

Oozing rust dissolving down the tunnel walls

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on my walk in a small cavity of rusting, dripping slime where it will hopefully be consumed into the melting walls of the tunnel.

 

Skulferatu #73

 

Skulferatu #73 in a rusty, dripping cavity in the tunnel wall

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #73

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.976781

Longitude -3.203583

 

I used the following sources for information on the tunnel -

 

Historic Environment Scotland

East Trinity Road Railway Tunnel, Edinburgh

 

Rail Scot

RAILSCOT | Trinity Tunnel

 

  

Skulferatu #66 - Disused Pier and Ship Loading Bay, Preston Hill Quarry, Inverkeithing, Fife

When out for walks along the Fife Costal Path I often stumble across the ruins of the heavy industry that once thrived in this area.  There are pieces of machinery of indeterminate use, the remains of old buildings and piers, structures sitting out and decaying away in the water, and broken metal things that may have once been something useful but are now so rusted away it is difficult to say what they were.

 

Decaying remains of an old pier in the Forth

 

Concrete structure sitting on shore of the Forth

 

Just outside of Inverkeithing there are the rather striking remains of what looks like a disused, iron pier jutting out into the Forth. 

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

These are the remnants of a conveyer belt and loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry.  It was once used to load stone from the quarry on to ships.  The quarry was closed down many years ago and the pier and loading bay have been left to just rust away.

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

Underneath the disused pier for the conveyer belt

 

The rusting iron struts of the pier

 

Iron and barbed wire underneath the pier

 

I found a path through the thorny bushes that took me underneath the rusting metal structure and while I took some photographs a heron watched me warily from the water below.

 

A heron watched me warily

 

I then took a wander over to the old quarry site.  It is now full of water and is a popular place with the local diving community for training and underwater photography.  I tried my hand at a bit of underwater photography by sticking an old and supposedly waterproof camera into the water to take a photo of the reeds growing below the surface. It sort of worked and the camera only fizzed and hissed a little bit.

 

Entrance to Preston Hill Quarry

 

Preston Hill Quarry

 

Plants growing underwater in the quarry

A view out over the quarry site

 

There are now plans afoot to fill in the quarry site and turn the area around it into a housing development.  I got the impression from some stickers on signposts and lampposts along the path leading up to the quarry that this is not a particularly popular idea.

 

I wandered back round from the quarry to the old pier and loading bay.  The sun was bright in the sky and all around was a haze of light reflected on a calm sea.

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk in the iron struts of the pier supports.

 

Skulferatu #66

 

Skulferatu #66 in the iron struts of the pier

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #66

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.02553

Longitude -3.38618