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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The
coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –
Latitude
55.96813
Longitude
-3.189598
what3words:
sands.loudly.chase
