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This was the junction between the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway) of 1849 and the Berwickshire Railway of 1865.

The Berwickshire extended the North British Railway's Dunse Branch (North British Railway), completing a through route from St Boswells via Duns to Reston [1st] on the East Coast Main Line.

The junction allowed trains to run from St Boswells rather than from Galashiels [1st] and Melrose. There was a bay at the north end of St Boswells station, on the west side, for these trains. The Duns route of the North British was to some extent in competition with the North British and North Eastern Railway route via Kelso.

After severe flood damage to the Duns route in 1948 the line was cut back becoming a goods only branch to Greenlaw. This closed in 1965.

As built, the junction was double with a signal box on the north side. The branch became single track after one train length. Following the cut back, this became a single lead junction. The box closed in 1965, with the Greenlaw branch.

The formation remains mostly intact although increasingly overgrown. The route north of the branch has been severed by the A6091, a re-alignment of the original road which was further north. This same road has obliterated the route of the main line west to Newstead [Melrose].

The disused Leaderfoot Viaduct is to the north on the former Greenlaw route.

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