Waverley Route
The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remainder to Carlisle opened in 1862. The line was nicknamed after the immensely popular Waverley Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott.
The line was closed in 1969, as a result of the Beeching Report. Part of the line, from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, reopened in September 2015. The reopened railway is known as the Borders Railway.
History
Origins
Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway
The North British Railway was established on 4 July 1844 when the North British Railway Act 1844 was passed giving authorisation for the construction of a line from Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed with a branch to Haddington. The company's chairman and founder was John Learmonth, the chairman of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, whose ambition it was to enclose the triangle of land between Edinburgh, Berwick and Carlisle with NBR rails. Carlisle was a key railway centre where a cross-border link with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway could be established.The NBR's Edinburgh-Berwick line was to be the starting point for the route which would run diagonally across the Southern Uplands to the Solway Plain and Carlisle, a distance of some. The first step in establishing the line was the acquisition of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, a local line opened in 1831 which ran from an inconveniently sited station at St Leonards on the southern extremity of Edinburgh to on the Lothian Coalfield. The E&DR, which had been authorised on 26 May 1826 as a tramway to carry coal to the Firth of Forth at Fisherrow and, later, Leith, ran for a distance of with branches eastwards to Leith and Fisherrow from Wanton Walls. The proprietors of the E&DR viewed the NBR's overtures with some alarm as they feared the loss of their valuable coal traffic; thought was given to extending the E&DR to meet the Edinburgh and Glasgow or the projected Caledonian Main Line but the proprietors' concerns were assuaged by the NBR's generous offer of £113,000 for the outright purchase of the line and the sale was completed in October 1845.
In the state in which it was acquired, the E&DR was of little use to the NBR as it had been operated as a horse-drawn tramway for the previous thirteen years, was built to a 4 ft 6 in gauge and was in a dilapidated state in terms of both infrastructure and rolling stock. Nevertheless, the concern brought with it a number of advantages: its proprietors had developed an efficient coal-marketing organisation which would greatly benefit its new owners, it consolidated the NBR's position in Edinburgh while also barring the rival Caledonian Railway from the Lothian Coalfields, and, perhaps most importantly, the E&DR pointed in the direction of Carlisle. Authorisation for the line's acquisition was obtained on 21 July 1845 with the passing of the North British Railway Act 1845, which allowed the NBR to lay a spur from its Edinburgh-Berwick line near Portobello to the E&DR at Niddrie, thereby allowing NBR services to run directly from North Bridge station to Dalhousie.
Edinburgh and Hawick Railway
Even before the NBR had obtained its North British Railway Act 1845 authorising the acquisition of the E&DR, John Learmonth had instructed John Miller to carry out a flying survey of the territory to the south of Dalkeith for a potential line to Kelso which would connect with a branch from Berwick. The scheme, which would see a line from the E&DR's terminus at Dalhousie Mains to Hawick, was discussed at a shareholders' meeting on 19 December 1844 where it drew criticism for being nearly as long as the NBR's Berwick line. Learmonth described the line as a "protective" one to guard against incursions by the NBR's Glasgow-based rival, the Caledonian Railway, and stated that there was no intention of extending it further to Carlisle. The proposal having been carried by a substantial majority, the authorising the line was obtained on 21 July 1845 with the incorporation of the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway. Although nominally independent, the company had £400,000 of its capital subscribed by NBR directors and the shares, each bearing a 4% guarantee, were to be transferred to NBR shareholders after incorporation. A special shareholders' meeting on 18 August 1845 authorised a further £400,000 to be raised which would be used to buy out the Edinburgh and Hawick company. At the same time, Learmonth revealed that it was in fact intended to continue to Carlisle.The line would first be extended to Galashiels by paying £1,200 to buy out the independent Galashiels Railway project. The line to Hawick was to be the greatest and most costly of the NBR's lines. From Dalhousie it climbed up the valleys of the South Esk and the Gore Water for at 1 in 70 to reach a summit at Falahill, before dropping down to the Gala Water which it crossed fifteen times to reach Galashiels. The next stage passed through the Tweed Valley, around the Eildons to Melrose and St Boswells, and finally to Hawick over undulating terrain. Construction was already under way in June 1846 when the company obtained authorisation to build seven branch lines – four from its Berwick line and three from the Hawick line. The line opened on 1 November 1849.
Border Union Railway
Despite the manifest lack of traffic potential over the barren moorlands separating Hawick and Carlisle, reaching the Cumbrian county town was to be a hotly disputed affair with the NBR and the Caledonian Railway vying for control. The Caledonian was keen to hinder the progress of the NBR and planned an incursion into NBR territory with the Caledonian Extension Railway – a line from Ayr to Berwick to complement its main line from Carlisle to Glasgow. In 1847, the Caledonian obtained powers to construct a line eastwards from Gretna on its main line to Canonbie, only from Hawick, but these powers were allowed to lapse. A second scheme was promoted in 1857: a single-line branch to Langholm whose sole aim was to keep the NBR out of Carlisle. The NBR put forward a rival scheme: the long double-track Border Union Railway which would run from Hawick down Liddesdale and through Newcastleton to the Solway Plain and Carlisle. The extension being a matter of life and death for the NBR, its chairman, Richard Hodgson, who had replaced Learmonth in 1855, set about appealing to local councils and traders for their support. Through his efforts, the Border Union Railway was backed by the town councils of Edinburgh, Leith, Dunbar, Haddington, Berwick and Hawick, whilst the Leith Dock Commissioners, the Merchant Company of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce also supported the scheme. The Border towns saw the Glasgow-based Caledonian Railway as an interloper, whereas the NBR was an Edinburgh company and their chairman was from the Borders region. Such was the support for Hodgson that a public holiday was declared in his honour at Hawick in August 1858.File:Carlisle Down freight on Waverley Route crossing WCML at Kingmoor geograph-2778526-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg|thumb|right|LMS Ivatt 4MT No. 43049 crossing the West Coast Main Line at Kingmoor near Carlisle with a goods train in 1965
Notwithstanding this support, Hodgson sought to build bridges with the Caledonian by offering, on 4 September 1858, to construct a joint line between Hawick and Carlisle. The line would be built in two equal parts by the companies which would be responsible for its management; free interchange of traffic would be allowed on the NBR lines north and west of Hawick and on the lines south and west of the Caledonian main line. The proposal gained no traction with the Caledonian, leading the NBR to publish details of its proposed scheme, to be known as the Border Union Railway, on 17 December 1858. The line would cost £450,000, of which £337,500 would be raised by shares and the remainder by a loan. Authorisation was given on 21 July 1859 when the Border Union Railway Act 1859 provided for the construction of a long line to Carlisle. The main line opened throughout to passengers on 1 July 1862. A celebration was held on 1 August when a special train ran from Edinburgh and a dinner was held in the carriage shed at Carlisle for around 700 guests. The Waverley Route was not however complete until the final section on the branch from Canonbie to Langholm opened on 18 April 1864 after completion of a 12-arch viaduct over Tarras Water.
Comprised within the Border Union Railway Act 1859 ere powers allowing the NBR to cross the Caledonian Railway's main line and join the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway at Rattlingate, as well as the granting of facilities at Carlisle Citadel railway station. The NBR would take a 999-year lease of the Silloth line from 1 August 1862. This brought two advantages: firstly, the NBR had access to Carlisle and Silloth harbour with access to Ireland and Liverpool and, secondly, it allowed freight to be sent by sea without having to work through Carlisle and thus not be subject to the Anglo-Scottish traffic agreement which set the rates for goods workings via Carlisle.
Topography and construction
At, the alignment chosen for the Waverley Route was considerably longer than the direct route as the crow flies between Edinburgh and Carlisle, around. However, the course was chosen to navigate a careful path around the formidable natural barriers south of Edinburgh in the form of the Southern Uplands and the summits at Whitrope and Falahill. Although advantage was taken of the easy conditions offered by the numerous river valleys, these two areas of high ground had to be tackled head-on, and gave rise to the line's reputation as the toughest main line in Britain due to its constant curves and continuous steep gradients. The climb to Whitrope was more challenging than that to the summit of the West Coast line at Beattock due to its curvature.From, the line proceeded south via Portobello East Junction towards the Moorfoots and the Lammermuirs, following the valleys of the South Esk, Gore Water and the Tyne. From Hardengreen Junction near Dalkeith there began a climb at a gradient of 1 in 70 to reach Falahill, before meandering along the course of the Gala Water down to its confluence with the River Tweed, which accompanied the line for a few miles eastwards to Melrose and St Boswells, descending at typically 1 in 150. The route swung to the south-west at St Boswells towards the River Teviot and on to Hawick, where the valley of Slitrig Water provided easy going before the climb at 1 in 70 over the massed hills to Whitrope Summit. The gradient subsequently eased to 1 in 96 through Whitrope Tunnel to Whitrope Siding box and descended at an unbroken 1 in 75 for over through the curves necessitated by the rugged countryside around Arnton Fell towards Riccarton Junction and Steele Road. Then came easier terrain in the form of Liddel Water, where the line turned west to follow Liddesdale and the Esk valley to reach the border at Kershope Burn. The final stretch from Riddings struck out across the coastal plain to Longtown and then Carlisle.
The first sod on the Border Union Railway was turned at Hawick on 22 July 1859, a day after the line had received Parliamentary approval. Construction works were to last two years and ten months; the task was made all the more difficult by the Caledonian Railway's delaying tactics in Parliament, which meant that the main works could only begin as winter was approaching. The heavy construction work took place in difficult weather – three frightful winters and two wet summers – in desolate country miles from public roads, which required teams of horses to bring materials across the moors and hillsides to the remote work sites. Life on the moorland was hard for the railway navvies and it was difficult to hire and keep men in the very wet conditions which at times prevented any progress. When the NBR's directors toured the Hawick-Hermitage section in January 1862, a number of defects were found, including a collapsed wall at the north end of Teviot viaduct due to shoddy specifications, a succession of landslips which required the directors to proceed in a ballast wagon, and a stark lack of progress at Stobs. On two of the construction contracts, the NBR's chief engineer had to take over from the contractors, whose equipment was sequestrated and sold.
By September 1861, the southern section of the line was ready for traffic; but none could be carried, as the Caledonian Railway had failed to lay the connection with its newly constructed Port Carlisle branch at Port Carlisle Junction. This was grudgingly done after a request by the NBR, but the single line laid was rejected by the Board of Trade, which insisted on a double-track connection. When the connection was finally laid and access obtained to Carlisle Citadel station, the Caledonian charged the rate for for the approach, and refused to accept NBR telegraph wires on its branch, or NBR passholders, who were dropped off at Port Carlisle Junction. The Border Union Railway was opened in sections: freight services were introduced between Carlisle and on 12 October 1861 followed by the passenger service on 28 October; this service was extended to on 1 March 1862 and to on 2 June. Opening throughout came on 1 July 1862.