Fountainhall

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Fountainhall (1848-1901)
Fountainhall Junction (1901-1959)
Fountainhall (1959-1969)

Opened on the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway).
Opened on the Lauder Light Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station with a bay platform for the Lauder Light Railway. The main station building was on the northbound platform with a water tank at the south end of the same platform.

The nearest station to the north was Heriot (north) and to the south is Stow.

Construction of the station required considerable ground work, requiring two bridges in quick succession.

The course of the Gala Water was relocated to a new channel to the east after opening of the railway to run down the east side of the station, thus alleviating the need for the two bridges over the river.

The goods yard was on the east side, reached by reversal from the south. A large goods shed was opposite the main station building. There was a long siding south of the station on the west side, approached from the north.

The original signal box was north of the station and level crossing on the east side of the line. With the opening of the Lauder line in 1901 this became a gate box and a new signal box was added at the south end of the northbound platform. There was a resignalling in 1954 and both boxes were replaced. The new box was an LNER Type 15 built on the north side of the level crossing, east side of the line.

The branch closed in 1959. The station and main line closed in 1969.

With the line reopening there is a railway here again, albeit single track. The station building, disused, remains standing.

Tags

Station Junction LNER Type 15

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map



Chronology Dates

  /  /1870Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)
Fountainhall station masters house built.
  /  /1901Lauder Light Railway
Line opened. A new signal box is opened at Fountainhall for the new junction with the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway).
12/09/1932Lauder Light Railway
Lauder to Fountainhall Junction closed to passengers. Lauder and Oxton closed to passengers.
01/10/1958Lauder Light Railway
Lauder to Fountainhall Junction closed to goods. A portion of the line is retained as a long siding from Fountainhall to the nearby level crossing.
  /  /1964Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway)
Fountainhall becomes de-staffed.
06/01/1969Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway) Border Union Railway (North British Railway) Carlisle and Port Carlisle Railway and Dock
Edinburgh (Portobello East Junction) to Hawick [2nd] to Carlisle (Port Carlisle Junction) closed to passengers. Newtongrange [1st], Gorebridge, Tynehead, Heriot, Fountainhall, Stow, Galashiels [1st], Melrose, St Boswells, Hassendean, Hawick [2nd], Stobs, Shankend, Riccarton Junction, Steele Road, Newcastleton stations closed.

News items

26/06/2013New fountainhall site office central to Borders Railway [Border Telegraph]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

Forgotten Railways: Scotland

Galashiels 1897: Selkirkshire Sheet 08.02 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Selkirkshire)

Galashiels to Edinburgh: Including the Lauder and Dalkeith Branches - the Waverley Route (Scml)

Hawick 1897: Roxburghshire Sheet 25.07 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Roxburghshire)

Hawick to Galashiels: The Waverley Route Including the Selkirk Branch (Scottish Main Lines)

Last Years of the Waverley Route
Lauder Light Railway (Locomotion Papers)
North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

North British Railway, Vol. 2 (Standard Railway History)

On the Waverley Route

Railways Of Scotland 2: The Waverley Route DVD - Cinerail

The Waverley Route Through Time

The Waverley Route: Its Heritage and Revival

The Waverley Route: The Postwar Years

Waverley Route: The battle for the Borders Railway

Waverley Route: The Life, Death and Rebirth of the Borders Railway

Waverley: Portrait of a Famous Route