Kelso Branch (North British Railway)

Introduction

This line is closed. This line runs through countryside and small towns. The only towns of any size were at either end of the line, Kelso and St Boswells.






Dates

  /  /1850Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Opened from Kelso Junction to Wallace Nick (a temporary terminus west of Kelso). Roxburgh opened.
  /  /1851Kelso Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Extended to meet the Kelso Branch (North British Railway) at Sprouston Junction.
  /  /1851Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Maxton and Rutherford opened.
27/01/1851Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Extended to Kelso from Wallace Nick station, a temporary terminus just west of Kelso, which is closed. The line extends east to Sprouston Junction where the Kelso Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway) is met.
  /08/1948Kelso Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)
Line used by expresses including the Flying Scotsman which are diverted from the East Coast Main Line due to flooding damage to the main line.
  /  /1950Kelso Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)
Route via Kelso used by expresses diverted from the East Coast Main Line due to flooding damage to the main line.
15/06/1964Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Kelso to St Boswells closed to passengers. Kelso, Roxburgh, Rutherford, Maxton closed.
01/  /1968Kelso Branch (North British Railway)
Kelso to Kelso Junction closed to freight.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


St Boswells to Kelso

From Kelso Junction to Kelso. The line was originally double track but was later singled.

This junction was south of St Boswells station, where there was a bay platform for branch trains, and was formed between the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)] (1849) and the Kelso Branch (North British Railway) (1850).
...

More details

See also
Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)
'Crab' 2-6-0 42752 off Carlisle Canal shed approaching Kelso Junction with a down freight in September 1962. [Ref query 681] ...
Dougie Squance (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) /09/1962
Stanier Black 5 4-6-0 no 44767 with the much photographed northbound train of diesel shunters over the Waverley route on 11 April 1967, seen here ...
Bruce McCartney 11/04/1967
Approaching Kelso Junction from the south on 11 April 1967. Black 5 44767 is heading for Edinburgh hauling Hunslet class 05 DM shunters D2608, D2617 ...
Bruce McCartney 11/04/1967
A pickup freight off the Kelso branch is held at Kelso Junction in 1966 as a 'Peak' passes with a southbound train on the Waverley Route. ...
Dougie Squance (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //1966
4 of 15 images. more


In 1942 the government opened a munitions factory at Charlesfield, near St Boswells.
...

More details
The former junction for the Charlesfield Munitions Factory looking east in 1999. I was standing on the Kelso branch with the Charlesfield siding off ...
Ewan Crawford //1999
View west from the former Kelso Branch showing the branch to the Charlesfield Munitions Factory (on the left) approaching the former site, now an ...
Ewan Crawford //1999
An extract of the working timetable for a working from Hawick to Kelso and Jedburgh, 7th January 1963.
...
Bruce McCartney 26/11/2017
The SLS (Scottish Area)/BLS 'Scottish Rambler no 2' joint Easter rail tour was a 4-day marathon that ran from 12-15 April 1963 and involved no ...
K A Gray 14/04/1963
4 of 4 images.


This was a two platform station on a double track line. There was a level crossing at the west end. The main station building was at the west end of the eastbound platform. The signal box, dating from 1915, was at the west end of the westbound platform. The village Maxton itself was just to the north, on the south bank of the River Tweed.
...

More details
Crossing gate at Maxton Station. ...
Clive Barlow 25/05/2006
Maxton Station looking towards Rutherford. ...
Clive Barlow 25/05/2006
Maxton Station looking towards Rutherford. The other crossing gate still exists. ...
Clive Barlow 25/05/2006
D3891 with the last freight from Kelso about to run over Maxton level crossing on 29 March 1968. Note the unofficial headboard specially constructed ...
Bruce McCartney 29/03/1968
4 of 13 images. more


This was a two platform station until singling of the line. There was a siding for a loading bank on the south side, approached from the west and a second siding on the north side, approached from the east. Both sidings were east of the station. The platforms were staggered, the eastbound being offset a little west of the westbound.
...

More details
Rutherford Station site looking towards Roxburgh. ...
Clive Barlow 25/05/2006
View from a goods train passing through Rutherford station in the the 1960s. The station closed to passengers in June 1964, with the line from Kelso ...
Dougie Squance (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //
Station remains at Rutherford, between St Boswells and Roxburgh, in 1998. Rutherford station closed to passengers in 1964 and the line back to Kelso ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
3 of 3 images.


This was a three platform junction station. This was the junction between the Kelso Branch (North British Railway) and the Jedburgh Railway.
...

More details

See also
Jedburgh Railway
Leaving the village of Roxburgh heading west on 13 August 2013. The former station and junction were located just off picture top right, while up ...
John Furnevel 13/08/2013
Entrance to the old station house at Roxburgh, photographed looking west from the roadside in the summer of 2013. For a wide view of the station site ...
John Furnevel 13/08/2013
B1 no 61324 near Roxburgh Junction on 14 April 1963 with the SLS/BLS Scottish Rambler No.2 (Joint Easter Rail Tour) which included a visit to ...
K A Gray 14/04/1963
One of two pairs of bridge abutments to the south of Roxburgh station, photographed on 7 July 2013. This pair carried the NB line towards Kelso and on ...
John Yellowlees 07/07/2013
4 of 16 images. more


This is a disused 220yd 14 arch double track masonry viaduct of the former Kelso Branch (North British Railway). The railway crossed the River Teviot, about 75 ft below, on a gentle curve. Listed 'A'.
...

More details
Close up of recently restored public footbridge, carried on the pillars of the Teviot Viaduct near Roxburgh. The viaduct itself carried the St ...
John Yellowlees 01/08/2022
The Teviot Viaduct at Roxburgh, that once carried the St Boswells to Kelso branch of the North British Railway, showing the low-level footbridge newly ...
John Yellowlees 01/08/2022
Photograph taken from the footbridge running alongside the viaduct over the River Teviot at Roxburgh on 13 August 2013. The view shows the underside ...
John Furnevel 13/08/2013
View from the footpath alongside the River Teviot at Roxburgh on a summer afternoon in 2013 looking south towards the viaduct. The impressive ...
John Furnevel 13/08/2013
4 of 26 images. more


This was a set of sidings accessed from a reversing spur on the south side of the line, approached from the west.
...

More details
Heiton Siding loading bank looking east towards Kelso. This siding was at the south end of the Roxburgh Viaduct. Originally approached by a reversal ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2016
View east along a lovely countryside footpath, the former double track line to Kelso. The line was singled in 1933 with the westbound track being ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2016
2 of 2 images.


This was a temporary terminus while Kelso station was prepared. Nothing remains to be seen.
...

More details
This view looks west at the approximate site of Wallace Nick station. This was where the former alignment of the A698 crossed the railway. The former ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2016
1 of 1 images.


This was a four platform station, two through platforms and a bay at either end. It replaced a temporary terminus at Wallace Nick, just to the west. One bay, on the south side, was for the line to the west and the other, on the north side, was for the east line. The signal box was on the westbound platform with the bay to its south.
...

More details
The station site at Kelso as seen during May 1974 in a view looking to Tweedmouth. The industrial site was to expand over the platforms before it was ...
Doug Nicholls /05/1974
Standard Class 2MT 2-6-0 78049 pauses at Kelso, with a Berwick to St Boswells service, in August 1963. ...
Brian Haslehust 19/08/1963
View east at Kelso. Before 1998 this view also included the B6352 road bridge over the line. The bulk of the station was beyond the bridge (roughly ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2016
The last freight coupling up at Kelso on 29 March 1968, being watched by 'Wink' Henry and local photographer David Welsh. D3891 is carrying the ...
Bruce McCartney 29/03/1968
4 of 30 images. more




This was a three arch double track viaduct to the east of Kelso station. The viaduct crossed the Wooden Burn close to Maxwellhaugh.
...

More details


This end-on junction was located at Mellendean. Sprouston station was a short distance to the east and Kelso is to the west.
...

More details

See also
Kelso Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
St Margarets B1 no 61191 hauling a long train of brake vans between Kelso and Sprouston. Thought to have been taken in 1956 with the train heading ...
D Welsh Collection [Courtesy Bruce McCartney] //1956
D20 4-4-0 2344 of Tweedmouth shed with a Berwick - Kelso train approaching the meeting point of NE and NB metals at Mellendean, Kelso, on the ...
D Welsh Collection [Courtesy Bruce McCartney] 25/03/1947
2 of 2 images.