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Leith Central
All photographs of this location in date order.
![Looking north west across Easter Road towards the remains of Leith Central in the late 1970s.<br><br>[Bill Roberton //]](/images/50000/50413.jpg "Leith Central")
![The first train at Leith Central, 1 July 1903. The lack of crowds was perhaps indicative how things were going to be for this station.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford Collection 01/07/1903]](/images/52000/52988.jpg "Leith Central")
![<I>Gordon Highlander</I> at Leith Central in 1965 with Scottish Rambler No 4. The train is straddling the bridge over Easter Road, constructed in 1901 after demolition of the central section of the 4-storey tenement block behind the locomotive, in order to give access to the new station. The gap has since been refilled by a new 5-storey central section [see image 10105].<br><br>[G W Robin 19/04/1965]](/images/21000/21314.jpg "Leith Central")
![Leith Central looking west from the bridge across Easter Road in March 1970 when the old station was in use as a diesel maintenance depot (shed code 64H). The depot was officially closed in 1972, although demolition and clearance of the site was not completed until 1989.<br><br>[John Furnevel 12/03/1970]](/images/1000/1085.jpg "Leith Central")
![View west towards Leith Central station on the far side of Easter Road in March 1970. The station was in use as a diesel depot at the time (64H) and two of its allocation (D2435 and D2413) stand in the sidings on the left. The tenement block that originally stood here was demolished in 1901 to make way for the bridge across Easter Road into the station.<br><br>[John Furnevel 12/03/1970]](/images/4000/4360.jpg "Leith Central")
![Barclay 0-4-0DM shunters D2413 and D2435 (nearest the camera) outside 64H Leith Central in 1970.<br><br>[John Furnevel 12/03/1970]](/images/4000/4362.jpg "Leith Central")
![Gloucester RC&W DMU in a siding at Leith Central Diesel Depot in 1971. Your correspondent in the driving seat (and yes, I had a permit for the visit!) The Leith North destination was history even then....<br>
<br><br>[Bill Roberton Collection //1971]](/images/26000/26771.jpg "Leith Central")
![Following its relatively short stint as a passenger terminus (1903 - 1952), Leith Central was subsequently adapted for use as a diesel depot and given the shed code 64H. Part of the converted depot is shown here in 1971 looking out from the former station concourse, with Barclay 0-4-0DM D2435 nearest the camera. Leith Central diesel depot was officially closed in 1972, following which the old building lay derelict for many years. During that period it became something of a haven for drug addicts (and the inspiration for the Irvine Welsh novel <I>Trainspotting</I>). Final demolition and clearance took place in 1989 and the site is now occupied by a supermarket, a swimming pool and associated car parking, although the old station frontage is still a notable landmark at <I>the Foot of the Walk</I> [see image 11184]. <br><br>[Bill Roberton //1971]](/images/27000/27361.jpg "Leith Central")
![Looking back towards the terminus over the turntable well. The is to the north west from what is now Leith Academy.<br><br>[Bill Roberton //1971]](/images/63000/63316.jpg "Leith Central")
![The signal box at Leith Central in 1971, by which time the station was a diesel depot. The box had closed in 1966 and was probably in use as a bothy.<br><br>[Bill Roberton //1971]](/images/63000/63325.jpg "Leith Central")
![The station entrance, reduced in status to serve the diesel depot. This was the Crown Place carriage entry seen from the west. The entry was just off Leith Walk.<br><br>[Bill Roberton //1971]](/images/63000/63354.jpg "Leith Central")
![Sunlight pierces the gloom at Leith Central in 1972, by which time the old station had been closed for 20 years and was in use as a diesel servicing facility. Leith Central was allocated a shed code of 64H. [See image 27361]<br><br>[Bill Roberton //1972]](/images/39000/39836.jpg "Leith Central")
![Interior of Leith Central Station in 1975. The location had latterly served as a diesel depot (64H). [See image 27361] <br>
<br><br>[Bill Roberton //1975]](/images/36000/36141.jpg "Leith Central")
![View of Leith Central from Duke Street in 1985.<br><br>[David Panton //1985]](/images/18000/18393.jpg "Leith Central")
![Looking across Easter Road towards Leith Central in 1985.<br><br>[David Panton //1985]](/images/18000/18394.jpg "Leith Central")
![View across Easter Road to Leith Central in Nov 1985. View is through the gap created by demolition of tenements to make way for the line in 1901. The station has now gone and the gap has been filled by new flats.<br><br>[David Panton /11/1985]](/images/16000/16656.jpg "Leith Central")
![Looking out from the concourse at Leith Central in November 1985.<br><br>[David Panton /11/1985]](/images/18000/18402.jpg "Leith Central")
![The <I>carriage drive</I> up to Leith Central from Leith Walk in November 1985.<br><br>[David Panton /11/1985]](/images/18000/18426.jpg "Leith Central")
![Leith Central immediately after demolition.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 12/06/1989]](/images/7000/7676.jpg "Leith Central")
![Foot of the Walk. Leith Central frontage in April 2004.<br><br>[John Furnevel 26/04/2004]](/images/2000/2084.jpg "Leith Central")
![North wall of Leith Central Station looking west towards Easter Road - now part of the Co-op car park, April 2004.<br><br>[John Furnevel 26/04/2004]](/images/3000/3199.jpg "Leith Central")
![Odd one out, Easter Road, June 2006. View north west showing the rear of the modern flats now filling the gap originally occupied by a tenement block demolished in 1901. The demolition took place to make way for the lines across Easter Road into the new Leith Central station. [See image 10105] for the view east from Leith Central. <br><br>[John Furnevel 23/06/2006]](/images/32000/32656.jpg "Leith Central")
![View east from the site of Leith Central station in July 2006 looking towards Easter Road. Note the surviving stonework on each side of what is now a car park serving a new supermarket built just behind the camera. Note also the tenements standing on the far side of Easter Road. The central section looks more modern, as well as being a five-storey building, whereas its neighbours only have four! The original middle section of the block was demolished in 1901 to make way for the line and bridge across Easter Road into the new station. Following closure of the station a replacement central section was built. [See image 4360]<br><br>[John Furnevel 22/07/2006]](/images/10000/10105.jpg "Leith Central")
![Looking west across Easter Road in 2006 at the remaining bridge abutment and north wall of Leith Central. Platform level was approx 20 feet above the pavement.<br><br>[John Furnevel 22/07/2006]](/images/10000/10106.jpg "Leith Central")
![The Great Wall of Leith. The north wall of Leith Central station in 2006, now forming the boundary of the Co-op Supermarket car park. View northwest across Easter Road, with part of the western abutment of the railway bridge that once spanned the road still standing. The grey roof of the Co-op supermarket is visible on the extreme left of the picture, while just out of shot alongside is 'Leith Waterworld', a leisure facility which was also built on the site of the old station. [See image 11664] <br><br>[John Furnevel 22/07/2006]](/images/10000/10107.jpg "Leith Central")
![A <I>discussion group</I> meets at the foot of Leith Walk in September 2006 opposite the shell of Leith Central - the largest new station built in Britain in the 20th Century. Over on the left, Queen Victoria (God bless Her) watches over proceedings.<br><br>[John Furnevel 14/09/2006]](/images/11000/11184.jpg "Leith Central")
![Approaching Leith Central from the west along Great Junction Street in September 2006.<br><br>[John Furnevel 14/09/2006]](/images/11000/11271.jpg "Leith Central")
![Looking west from the Co-op car park at the rear of Leith Central in September 2006, past 'Waterworld' towards the station bulkhead from which the overall roof once extended. A number 14 bus is stopped in front of the station on Leith Walk on its way to Greendykes.<br><br>[John Furnevel 14/09/2006]](/images/11000/11664.jpg "Leith Central")
![A gloomy Thursday lunchtime at the foot of Leith Walk in September 2006, with the old Leith Central station building looking abandoned and unwanted.<br><br>[John Furnevel 14/09/2006]](/images/57000/57280.jpg "Leith Central")
![The Foot of the Walk on 14 September 2006, with the station clock above the former Leith Central (closed 1952) showing the time as a few minutes before noon. Straight ahead is Constitution Street and the road to the docks. Rounding off the picture centre left is Queen Victoria (God bless Her) standing in front of Woolworths.<br><br>[John Furnevel 14/09/2006]](/images/58000/58806.jpg "Leith Central")
![Leith Central opened in 1902, rather late for a terminus. Lasting only 50 years as a passenger station, this white elephant then became a diesel depot until 1972, after which it loomed threateningly over the area until demolished in the late 1980s to make way for a supermarket, swimming pool, and (mostly) their car park. On 10 October 2009 the pointless-seeming incline on the left shows the level of the carriage drive up to platform level [see image 18426].<br><br>[David Panton 10/10/2009]](/images/25000/25915.jpg "Leith Central")
![Detail - Leith Central, junction of Duke Street and Leith Walk, June 2010.<br><br>[John Furnevel 06/06/2010]](/images/29000/29295.jpg "Leith Central")
![The north west corner and clock tower of Leith Central seen looking south from Constitution Street on Sunday 6 June 2010. <br><br>[John Furnevel 06/06/2010]](/images/29000/29454.jpg "Leith Central")
![Thirty years since my last photograph [see image 18393] and the hulking presence of Leith Central's trainshed has long since ceased to dominate Duke Street. It was demolished in the late 1980s to make way for a supermarket and leisure pool. The hipped roof of Tesco is however redolent of the old train shed. I refer to the store as Tesco Leith Central in an effort to keep the name alive.<br><br>[David Panton 15/02/2015]](/images/50000/50366.jpg "Leith Central")
![You can tell even from the back of her head that Queen Victoria is even less amused than usual that her eternal view of Leith Central station frontage is spoiled by the extensive road works currently going on at the foot of the Walk in March 2015.<br>
<br><br>[David Panton 12/03/2015]](/images/50000/50629.jpg "Leith Central")
!['The Opening of Leith Central', a photo mural in the newly relocated doctors' surgery in the old station building. Notice that they've had to reverse the image. On my brief visit both waiting rooms were completely devoid of patients, which is testament to Leith's healthy climate. Photographed with permission of surgery staff.<br><br>[David Panton 07/08/2017]](/images/60000/60800.jpg "Leith Central")
![Leith Walk Doctors' Surgery has just moved into fine new premises of on both floors of the old station building. Here are the murals in the ground floor waiting room, and by that I mean the surgery waiting room! Incidentally three streets on that map extract have since changed their names due to duplication with Edinburgh street names. Well done if you get them all. With thanks to surgery staff for permission to photograph.<br><br>[David Panton 07/08/2017]](/images/60000/60801.jpg "Leith Central")
