Galashiels [1st]

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Galashiels [1st] (1849-1969)

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

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

Description

This was a three platform through station, originally covered with a large timber overall roof which was later replaced with platform canopies. Carriage sidings were on the east side. The main station building was on the west side and has, unfortunately, been lost. Opposite the station building was a large watertank for replenishing the locomotives.

Little remains of the station today and the new Galashiels is located further north. The new line is re-aligned to the extreme north/east side of the original station.

To the south were Galashiels Goods to the south/west side of the line and Galashiels Shed to the north/east side.

Trains from Galashiels also served Peebles [2nd] and Selkirk.

Galashiels North Signal Box and Galashiels South Signal Box controlled the approaches to either end of the station. In addition there was a central box in the station. The station was crossed by a road bridge, see Galashiels North Signal Box for details.

At the north end of the northbound platform was the signal box opened in 1937 to replace Kilnknowe Junction box, Galashiels North Signal Box, Galashiels Central Signal Box (at the station, directly south of the trainshed on the main platform), Galashiels South Signal Box and Selkirk Junction Signal Box.

Kilnknowe ceased to be a junction in 1963, Selkirk in 1967. The box was reduced to a ground frame with the withdrawn of passenger services on the main line in 1969 and closed a few months later in 1969.

Also at the north end (on the west side) was a turntable, removed with the opening of Galashiels Shed. The location is today, almost appropriately, to the south west of a roundabout.

The decision to allow construction on the site of the original station has introduced a sharp reverse curve with only space for a single track and a single platform station isolated from the town by the A7.

Tags

Station

External links

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




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

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