Train carriage cafe set to arrive at last

A FORMER railway carriage which is being converted into a new waterside cafe-bar for Leith is expected to be in place by next April, Forth Ports confirmed today.

As the Evening News first reported in 2006, the Pullman carriage is being installed on some of the old tracks which still exist in the Alexandra Dock area of the port.

Visitors to the restaurant will learn about the 50-year history of passenger trains in Leith, clustered around the former Leith Central Station, which opened in 1903 but was closed less than 50 years later.

Central Station famously inspired the title of Irvine Welsh's debut novel.

Its two main characters, Renton and Begbie, are reminiscing inside the derelict station about its impending demise – it is to be replaced by a supermarket and leisure centre – when they are confronted by a drunk who asks them if they are trainspotting.