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Description

This was a two platform suburban station with a ticket office on the road bridge to the south (Broughton Road) and waiting rooms on each platform. There was no goods yard.

To the north the line crossed the Water of Leith to reach Bonnington South Junction and to the south it reached Leith Walk station, the line serving several works in between; the Rosebank Iron Works, Shrubhill Tram Depot and others. Rosebank Cemetery is not far east.

After closure the platforms remained intact, the buildings were demolished, although the sandstone frontage of the street level building survives.

The line to North Leith was singled (southbound line lifted) and that to Granton afterwards (northbound line lifted). North Leith closed completely in 1968 and Granton was officially closed in 1986, however the line was retained as far as the former Bonnington South Junction.

The reason for this retention was the Powderhall Destructor directly to the west of the former station. The wall between the two was removed, platforms also removed and a loop installed to the south (Powderhall Loop). Compacted refuse from Edinburgh was transported from the site by rail.

This traffic has ceased. The line remains in place but sees no use.

The trackbed between Powderhall and the former Lochend Junction may be incorporated into Edinburgh's cycle network. The former Abbeyhill Junction to Powderhall Branch Junction may be re-opened to increase line capacity.

Imaginative use of the trackbed could be made to introduce a northern suburban circle were other closed lines to be re-opened. This would run on a 'reserved' route unlike the proposed street based Leith extension of the Edinburgh Trams.

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