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Description

This was both a station and junction. It opened at Leadburn, a four way road junction and the site of the Leadburn Inn.

The original station station had two platform and a passing loop. The main building was on the northbound platform. A short goods siding served a loading bank on the west side, north end of the station, served from the north. To the north the single line crossed a road with a long oblique level crossing. To the south it crossed by means of a bridge. Going south the line floated on bog, similar to the crossing of Rannoch Moor. Just south of the station was the summit of the line and Leadburn Summit Siding.

The station became a junction with the opening of the Leadburn, Linton and Dolphinton Railway in 1864. The branch approached the station from the south, on the west side of the existing line, and ran as two parallel tracks (giving the appearance of a double track line) to the station where the branch terminated in a bay on the west side of the station with a loop and turntable at the head of the platform. A connection was made south of the station from the branch to the south end of the existing station's loop. This allowed trains from Edinburgh to take the branch.

A goods refuge siding was on the east side of the station, behind the southbound platform, approached from the south.

The station was presided over with a tall signal box at the south end of the bay/northbound platform. The original box ('Leadburn Junction') opened in 1895 and was replaced in 1954, just a year before closure to passengers. The new box was rather basic and built towards the south end of the northbound platform. There may have been an original, pre-Dolphinton line, box at the south end of the southbound platform. The loop remained in use for the Peebles Railway line.

The branch had closed to passengers in 1933, but was retained until 1961, serving a military depot RNAD Leadburn. The depot started by the junction and ran west as far as Macbie Hill.

The loop and line closed in 1962.

After closure the site has remained largely intact. The buildings are gone, with the exception of the station house/crossing keeper's cottage by the level crossing at the north end. The platforms and loading banks remain, with the exception of the bay platform for the branch. The site is a car park. The original approach to the station from the road junction has gone.

To the south the road bridge was removed quickly after closure.

Local

The Leadburn Inn was burned down after a car accident in 2005. A new Leadburn Inn now replaces it.

A carriage, setup as a novelty restaurant car, was used at the original inn.

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