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Description

This was the terminus of the short Selkirk and Galashiels Railway built in the north of the town of Selkirk. The line was built to Selkirk to serve the town and increasingly, after opening, to serve the large number of mills in the town.

By the terminus were (to the west) Bridgehaugh Mills, Cheviot Mills, Ettrickvale Yarn Mill, Riverside Mill, Selkirk Dyeworks, St Mary's Mills and Linglie Mills. To the east were Forest Mill, Yarrow Mill, Tweed Mills, Ettrick Mills and Dunsdale Woolen Mills. The Ettrick Water ran by the west side of the mills and station, Ettrickbank Mill was on the west bank. The names and purposes of the mills changed over the years.

Not surprisingly the station had a large goods yard on its west side with six sidings, a large loading bank, cranes and a goods shed. The signal box (1893) was at the north end of the station, on the west side of the line.

The passenger station had a single platform on the east (town) side of the site with a loop. The station originally had a trainshed braced between the station building (stone built and of two storeys) and the goods shed. After this was removed a canopy was built on the platform side of the station building. The Railway Hotel was in the south of the railway terminus' square.

Reversing from the passenger platform reached the single road locomotive shed.

When first opened there were few mills, just Forest Mill. The opening of the railway stimulated the opening of the many other mills.

The station closed to passengers in 1951, the box in 1958 and the railway continued until 1964.

Little remains of the station. The station building was demolished in 1971. The site is now an industrial estate. Some of the mills remain open and some are in other uses. The Railway Hotel and Station Road remain as reminders.

To the north of the station Yarrow Mill was served by a siding on the east side of the line, St Mary's Mills had a siding on the west side, Ettrick Mills on the east, and to the north was Level Crossing Road (a name it retains today).

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