2. Railways

The reopened Borders Railway - The Waverley Route

On Sunday 6th of September 2015 the Borders Railway opened to passenger traffic. Three days later on 9th September it was officially opened by HM The Queen travelling in a special train hauled by John Cameron's A4 60009 "Union of South Africa". This is a rebuilt railway on the route of the North British Railway's famous "Waverley Route". The line runs to a terminus at Tweedbank, a new station between Galashiels and Melrose. There is talk of extending the route to Hawick, the last town of any great size along the former Edinburgh to Carlisle railway closed on 6/1/1969.
This is a journey in a southerly Up direction from Edinburgh to Tweedbank so will jump about with dates and rolling stock.
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    A quick drive from Falahill to get ahead of the steam tour and I find a perfect spot near to Torsonce, south of Stow. With hardly any exhaust 60009 comes into view.
    As a farmer goes about their business ploughing a field, No9 is caught by the wonderful sunlight as drifts down grade at 1 in 175 at this spot.
    Bringing the lens out to record the whole train I was amazed I was alone here. Due to the numerous 20mph speed restrictions over many of the bridges it was quite easy to get ahead of the train after Falahill.