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Description

This was the terminus of the Lauder Light Railway, a branch from Fountainhall on the Waverley Route. The station was in the north of Lauder, on the edge of the village.

It was a single platform station, the timber built platform being on the west side of a loop and with a small timber building. To the east were two sidings in the goods yard. A goods shed, not rail served, was on the east side. Between the passenger and goods sidings was a single road locomotive shed. There was a large water tank at the south end of the passenger platform. All sidings were approached from the north.

There were signals, the signal frame lasting between 1901 and 1932.

The line closed to passengers in 1932, replaced by buses (the railway had replaced a stagecoach, later bus, service which ran from Stow). Signalling was removed after the passenger service ceased and the locomotive shed some time afterwards.

During the Second World War a food depot (Lauder Food Depot), largely a flour depot, was built to the west of the station, the location chosen for its remoteness. This depot consisted of two groups of joined sheds. The depot was served by a siding on its north side, reached by reversing from the passenger platform's loop and crossing a minor road.

The line was closed between 1948 and 1950 due to flood damage. It closed completely in 1958.

The site was reused not long after closure, but the goods shed survived into the 1970s. The wartime food depot became a poultry farm. The sheds still stand. Much of the station site is now a small industrial estate. A petrol station and garage were established in the station forecourt before its closure, these remain.

The line is walkable to the north, with some ploughed out sections.

Local

The Southern Upland Way passes through Lauder, about a half mile south of the former station.

Thrilestane Castle is about a third of a mile east of Lauder.

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