Galashiels, Innerleithen and Peebles Railway (North British Railway)

Introduction

This railway is closed. The North British Railway took over the promotion of this railway, which had various names over the years, including the Innerleithan and Peebles Railway, as local promoters were having difficulty pushing it through. The North British were able to offer the Caledonian Railway, who blocked the proposed line, favourable rates for traffic and made a connection to the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Extension Railway in Peebles.






Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Peebles to Galashiels

This engine shed was provided just to the north of the original terminal station. It was originally accessed from the terminus but on extension of the line east to Galashiels was re-aligned to be approached from the north. ...

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See also
Peebles Railway
Looking south at the approximate site of Peebles Engine Shed where the extension east to Galashiels left the original Peebles station on a short spur. ...
Ewan Crawford //
1 of 1 images.


This was a single platform station with a canopy provided when the line was extended east from Peebles to Galashiels. The station replaced Peebles [1st]. ...

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The remains of Peebles (NB) station in December 1969. Named Peebles East from 1950 to 1958, complete closure to both passenger and goods traffic came ...
John Clark /12/1969
Peebles totem now in a private collection. ...
Bruce McCartney Collection //
Close-up of the new attachment to the wall running alongside the old station site at Peebles on 20 April 2010. see image 28603 ...
John Furnevel 20/04/2010
The former goods office and weighbridge at Peebles, currently standing at the north end of Edinburgh Road car park - still referred to as East Station ...
John Furnevel 20/04/2010
4 of 19 images. more


This junction was by the signal box just south east of the second North British Railway Peebles station. The link to Peebles [CR] crossed the goods loop on its course south and then west. The junction was alternatively called Peebles Caledonian Junction.
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The footbridge that once spanned the Peebles Railway half a mile south east of Peebles station on the route to Galashiels. At this point the line ran ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
This fine scuplture, cleverly made out of straightened-out horse shoes, commemorates a local lad. It is also nicely positioned in what was the vee of ...
David Panton 19/10/2017
Old preserved overbridge crossing the trackbed of the line heading east out of Peebles towards Galashiels. The route now provides access to 'The ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
A replacement deck is now in place on the former railway bridge at Eshiels, just to the east of Peebles. Part of the new cycle route between Peebles ...
Colin Harkins 17/07/2010
4 of 13 images. more


This goods yard was the the south east of Peebles [NB] station, the second North British Railway station in the town. The yard was served by a loop off the line. It was crossed, on the level, by a line from Peebles Junction to Peebles CR and NBR Junction just east of the Caledonian station.
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Following closure of the railway through Peebles much of the yard was given over to car parking, although the original goods and weighbridge office ...
John Furnevel 12/09/2002
The old goods/weighbridge office in the former goods yard at Peebles in January 2005. ...
John Furnevel 20/01/2005
Peebles goods yard weighbridge building. ...
Ewan Crawford 12/04/1997
The surviving former goods/weighbridge office in what was once Peebles goods yard (now a car park), seen here on 8 July 2013. ...
John Yellowlees 08/07/2013
4 of 8 images. more


This gasworks was located at Eshiels near Eshiels Tunnel to the east of Peebles. A siding, approached from the Galashiels direction, ran to the works. ...

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Remains of a former railway bridge that once carried the Peebles - Galashiels line over a minor road linking the old gas works (now a recycling depot) ...
John Furnevel 08/08/2010
The rear of the coke discharge shed at the former Peebles Gasworks at Eshiels in August 2010. After discharging their load into the shed's coke drops, ...
John Furnevel 08/08/2010
The empty wagon run-out at the rear of the coke discharge shed at Eshiels on 8 August 2010. The photograph is taken looking east from the trackbed of ...
John Furnevel 08/08/2010
The deck of the railway bridge at Eshiels over the road leading to water treatment works has been removed although the abutments still stand in March ...
Colin Harkins /03/2006
4 of 8 images. more


This is a disused single track five span single track viaduct directly west of the former Cardrona station. It crosses the River Tweed. There is a small flood arch at the east end.
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This bridge has now been concreted as part of the Cardrona Golf Complex ...
Colin Harkins /Ma/2006
Horsbrugh viaduct by Cardrona station viewed from the east. ...
Ewan Crawford //1997
Background remnants of a stubborn morning mist are still apparent in this view north over the Tweed railway bridge at Cardrona looking toward Peebles ...
John Furnevel 07/10/2005
Horsbrugh Viaduct at Cardrona. Cardrona was on the Peebles Loop of the North British Railway's line from Eskbank to Galashiels. Opened 1864 and closed ...
John Gray 15/10/2018
4 of 11 images. more


This single platform station was at Cardrona Mains, just east of Horsbrugh Viaduct and about a mile north of Cardrona House and Cardrona Viaduct. The former station is now within the modern Cardrona housing estate development. No allowance for line re-opening along the original route has been made.
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The former Cardrona station on the Galashiels to Peebles section of the Peebles Loop, closed in 1962 and now a coffee house, seen here through the ...
David Bosher 23/02/2018
The old station at Cardrona in 2010, looking north west along the platform towards Peebles with the signal box nearest the camera. The sign above the ...
John Furnevel 08/08/2010
The remains of Cardrona station on the Peebles Loop, seen here in the summer of 2014 bearing the name 'Cardrona Village Store'. The view is south east ...
John Furnevel 18/06/2014
Cardrona Station has changed identities a few times since closure. Today it is a coffee shop. Note the small signal box. 15th October 2018.
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John Gray 15/10/2018
4 of 21 images. more


This single track five arch viaduct was south of the former Cardrona station, crossing the River Tweed.
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A goods train going east crossing the River Tweed near Cardrona House heading for Innerleithen, thought to have been taken around 1960. The Peebles ...
Dougie Squance (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //1960
The footbridge that now spans the Tweed between Cardrona and Innerleithen, seen from the trackbed of the Peebles Railway looking towards Galashiels in ...
John Furnevel 18/06/2014
Looking south along the Tweed in June 2014 from the recently constructed (2013) footbridge near Cardrona (see image 47741). Remains of the rail ...
John Furnevel 18/06/2014
3 of 3 images.


This information boards provides information on the private halt at Glenormiston Halt. ...
Bill Roberton 14/10/2017
I had a pleasant stroll along the Tweed Valley Railway Path from Cardrona to Innerleithen. The local authority provides information boards which ...
Bill Roberton 15/10/2017
2 of 2 images.


This siding had a loading bank and was approached from the west. The site is just west of the former Innerleithen station.
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This was a two platform station with a goods yard approached from the east. The yard had a goods shed. There was a level crossing to the west of the station. The platforms were staggered and there was a tall signal box (1895) on the westbound platform.
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Innerleithen Station with surviving canopy. 15 October 2017. Seeing the expansion of every settlement in the valley and the growth in commuting, would ...
Bill Roberton 15/10/2017
A Tweed Valley Way information board at Innerleithen, this one providing a wealth of detail about the WW2 food store that is still alongside the old ...
Bill Roberton 15/10/2017
Innerleithen station viewed from the former level crossing to its west. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Former Innerleithen station on Peebles to Galashiels Line, closed 1962, looking east towards Galashiels on 23rd February 2018. ...
David Bosher 23/02/2018
4 of 16 images. more






This is a disused six span girder viaduct east of the former Innerleithen station crossing the River Tweed.
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Half a mile east of Innerleithen station the route from Peebles to Galashiels crossed the River Tweed on Haughhead Viaduct. The 6-span plate girder ...
John Furnevel 25/02/2007
Half a mile east of Innerleithen station the Peebles Loop crossed the Tweed on Haughhead Viaduct. The 6-span iron plate girder structure, opened in ...
John Furnevel 18/05/2008
2 of 2 images.


This was a single platform station on the south bank of the Tweed, connected to Walkerburn by a road bridge. The Tweedholm Mills sat on the low ground on the north bank with the village above.
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Walkerburn Station building, looking west from the former level crossing, in 1975.
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Bill Roberton //1975
Walkerburn station viewed from the south. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Looking east along the platform at Walkerburn station in February 2007 with the former station masters house to the right. (With thanks to owner Helen ...
John Furnevel 19/02/2007
View north over the remains of Walkerburn yard and goods shed in 2007. ...
John Furnevel 19/02/2007
4 of 12 images. more




This was a single platform station to the south of Thornylee Farm. The platform was on the north (farm) side of the line with a goods yard to the east on the north side of the line, approached from the west.
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A wet and misty morning in the Tweed Valley, some 5 miles west of Galashiels, in October 2005. View is south towards the river from alongside the A72, ...
John Furnevel 07/10/2005
Thornielee station viewed from the north. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Looking west along the trackbed of the Peebles Railway on 7 October 2005 towards the former Thornielee station. See image 35315 ...
John Furnevel 07/10/2005
View south west along the Tweed Valley at Thornielee towards Peebles on 7 October 2005. In the foreground is the former Thornielee station, closed in ...
John Furnevel 07/10/2005
4 of 5 images. more


This location was referred to by the North British Railway as
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An unidentified B1 4-6-0 with an Edinburgh - Galashiels train eastbound on the Peebles loop in the 1950s. The location is thought to be the section ...
Dougie Squance (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //
View looking west at the former Angling Club Cottage. The platform and waiting shelter were to the left. See image 31487 ...
Ewan Crawford 17/01/2009
This location is now unrecognisable, the bridge having been demolished many years ago and the road realigned over to the left. The location is west of ...
Bill Jamieson Collection //
The view east along the trackbed of the Peebles Railway towards Clovenfords in January 2009. The location is high above the River Tweed in the ...
Ewan Crawford 17/01/2009
4 of 5 images. more




This was a single platform station in the north of the village of Clovenfords. The platform was on the south (village) side of the single line. The single storey station building stood at the west end of the platform. There was a goods shed at the east end, in a small goods yard with two sidings served from a goods loop to the east. A signal box opened in 1899 and closed in 1928.
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Clovenfords station building viewed from the east. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Part of the modified 1866 station at Clovenfords on the Peebles loop. Closed with the line in 1962 the building is now an attractive private ...
John Furnevel 30/10/2006
The former station at Clovenfords on the Peebles - Galashiels line on a wet 30 October 2006. Closed in February 1962 the building is now a private ...
John Furnevel 30/10/2006
Undated photograph of the bridge at Caddon Mill, just west of Clovenfords, that carried the Peebles branch over the A72, the third of five crossings ...
Bill Jamieson Collection //
4 of 4 images.


A mid morning service to Edinburgh heading north out of Galashiels in November 2016. The train has just passed the site of the former Kilnknowe ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2016
A ScotRail 158 on the Borders Railway crosses the rebuilt bridge over Wheatlands Road on the northern approach to Galashiels during the early ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2016
With the mist over the town beginning to lift an Edinburgh bound train heads north out of Galashiels on an autumn morning in 2017. The ScotRail 158 ...
John Furnevel 09/10/2017
A Tweedbank - Edinburgh sevice runs north through the site of Kilnknowe Junction on 9 November 2017. ...
John Furnevel 09/11/2017
4 of 47 images. more





Peebles NB and CR connection

This junction was by the signal box just south east of the second North British Railway Peebles station. The link to Peebles [CR] crossed the goods loop on its course south and then west. The junction was alternatively called Peebles Caledonian Junction.
...

More details
The footbridge that once spanned the Peebles Railway half a mile south east of Peebles station on the route to Galashiels. At this point the line ran ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
This fine scuplture, cleverly made out of straightened-out horse shoes, commemorates a local lad. It is also nicely positioned in what was the vee of ...
David Panton 19/10/2017
Old preserved overbridge crossing the trackbed of the line heading east out of Peebles towards Galashiels. The route now provides access to 'The ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
A replacement deck is now in place on the former railway bridge at Eshiels, just to the east of Peebles. Part of the new cycle route between Peebles ...
Colin Harkins 17/07/2010
4 of 13 images. more


This single track girder viaduct crossed the River Tweed. It was on the short North British owned link between Peebles Junction on the NBR and Peebles [CR].
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The walkway along the north bank of the Tweed in Peebles in the summer of 2006, showing part of the surviving abutment of the Caley - NB link bridge ...
John Furnevel 26/08/2006
Low water on the Tweed at Peebles reveals the base of one of the piers of the former railway bridge that once carried the link-line from the ...
John Furnevel 26/08/2006
Site of the former crossing point of the Caley/NB link bridge across the Tweed at Peebles in January 2005. Note the surviving part of the bridge ...
John Furnevel 20/01/2005
View north across the Tweed at Peebles in May 2010 over the section once spanned by the railway bridge carrying the NB/Caley link line. Part of the ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
4 of 4 images.


This was an end-on junction directly to the east of Peebles [CR] station. From here a North British Railway line operated over the Peebles Tweed Viaduct to Peebles Junction at Peebles [2nd] North British Railway station.
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See also
Symington, Biggar and Broughton Extension Railway (Caledonian Railway)
This warning is so important it's in duplicate! ...
John Yellowlees 22/07/2023
The Caledonian and North British systems were connected at Peebles by a link line running east from the CR terminus for a quarter of a mile along the ...
John Furnevel 07/04/2017
View north along Tweed Avenue, Peebles, in the spring of 2017 towards the road junction with Walker's Haugh. The embankment and infilled bridge on the ...
John Furnevel 07/04/2017
Brick topped abutment remains standing alongside the walkway on the north side of the Tweed at Peebles in the spring of 2010. The wall now marks the ...
John Furnevel 21/05/2010
4 of 9 images. more