Kelso Junction

Location type

Junction

Name and dates

Kelso Junction (1850-1968)

Opened on the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway).
Opened on the Kelso Branch (North British Railway).

Description

This junction was south of St Boswells station, where there was a bay platform for branch trains, and was formed between the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)] (1849) and the Kelso Branch (North British Railway) (1850).

Both lines were double track. The junction was controlled by a tall signal box (to see over the bridge immediately to the north) on the east side of the line.

The Kelso line was singled to Roxburgh (the westbound line was lifted) in 1933. The junction remained double, but the Kelso line became single approaching the bridge at Greenside. This short section of double track was extended in 1942 due to wartime traffic.

The branch closed to passengers in 1964. In 1966 the box was closed, replaced by a ground frame. The Kelso branch was now single up to the junction, joining the southbound track of the main line, the last section of the northbound branch line had been lifted.

The branch closed in 1968 and main line in 1969.

The formation still exists, the bridge to the north has been removed and the site of the junction is intact, but further north, south and east the lines have been landscaped.

Tags

Junction

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map




Chronology Dates

  /  /1850Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Opened from Kelso Junction to Wallace Nick (a temporary terminus west of Kelso). Roxburgh opened.
01/  /1968Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Kelso to Kelso Junction closed to freight.

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

Berwick to St. Boswells: Via Kelso Including the Jedburgh Branch (Country Railway Routes)

Forgotten Railways: Scotland

Galashiels 1897: Selkirkshire Sheet 08.02 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Selkirkshire)

Galashiels to Edinburgh: Including the Lauder and Dalkeith Branches - the Waverley Route (Scml)

Hawick 1897: Roxburghshire Sheet 25.07 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Roxburghshire)

Hawick to Galashiels: The Waverley Route Including the Selkirk Branch (Scottish Main Lines)

Kelso 1919: Roxburghshire 10.02 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Roxburghshire)

Last Years of the Waverley Route

North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

North British Railway, Vol. 2 (Standard Railway History)

On the Waverley Route

Railways Of Scotland 2: The Waverley Route DVD - Cinerail

Scotland’s Lost Branch Lines: Where Beeching Got It Wrong

The Waverley Route Through Time

The Waverley Route: Its Heritage and Revival

The Waverley Route: The District Controller's View 'Edinburgh (Waverley) - Carlisle Via Hawick'

The Waverley Route: The Postwar Years

Waverley Route: The battle for the Borders Railway

Waverley Route: The Life, Death and Rebirth of the Borders Railway

Waverley: Portrait of a Famous Route