Gretna Border Union Junction

Location type

Junction

Name and dates

Gretna Border Union Junction (1861-1960)

Opened on the Caledonian Railway.
Opened on the Gretna Branch (North British Railway).

Description

This junction, south of Gretna station, was where the 1847 portion of the Caledonian Railway was met by the 1861 branch of the Border Union Railway (North British Railway) from Longtown. The connection was double track with the Border Union rapidly dropping to single track before being met (at Gretna Junction [NBR]) by its own Gretna [NB] terminus station single track line.

The junction was controlled by Gretna Border Union Junction box which was on the west side of the junction. This box controlled the southern approach to Gretna Caledonian station and the approach to its goods yard (sandwiched in between the Caledonian and North British lines and approached from the south]]. There was also a good view of the rear of the Gretna [NB] station signal box across the Caledonian metals, it was a little to the south.

The Border Union line came to be known as the Waverley Route. The Caledonian route as the West Coast Main Line.

The box closed in 1915, replaced by a new signal box at Gretna Junction. This was beyond Gretna station and Sark Viaduct to the north and was where the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway (later Glasgow and South Western Railway) met the line. A connection could be made between the North British and South Western lines via a short length of Caledonian metals. This box was in connection with the opening of HM Factory Gretna during the Shell Crisis of 1915.

The Border Union junction closed in 1960. The branch to Longtown was retained and a new connection made for it to the south in 1963. This was made in connection with the then new Carlisle Marshalling Yard and provided the Waverley Route with an approach to the yard from the north via the former Caledonian.

The formation of the Border Union junction can still be seen. The land is now farmland. The West Coast Main Line was electrified in 1974.

Tags

Junction
01/08/2019

Chronology Dates

  /  /1859Border Union Railway (North British Railway) Port Carlisle Junction to Canal Junction Curve (Caledonian Railway) Caledonian Railway
Line authorised between Hawick and Carlisle. Running powers granted for the North British Railway over two short portions of the Caledonian Railway. Gretna: Gretna Border Union Junction to Gretna GSWR Junction to allow traffic exchange with the Glasgow and South Western Railway using the NBR's proposed Gretna branch. Carlisle: Canal Junction [Carlisle] to Port Carlisle Junction to Carlisle Citadel, more importantly giving access to the intended southern terminus (not NBR owned).

Books


An Illustrated History of Carlisle's Railways

Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Caledonian Dunalastairs and Associated Classes (Locomotive Monograph)

Caledonian in LMS Days (Railways in Retrospect)

Caledonian Railway

Caledonian Railway Carriages

Caledonian Railway Livery: The True Line Elegance and Style

Caledonian Railway Wagons & Non-Passenger Coaching Stock

Caledonian Routes 3: Stirling to Crianlarich - DVD - Oakwood Press

Caley to the Coast: Rothesay by Wemyss Bay (Oakwood Library of Railway History)

Callander & Oban Railway Through Time

Callander and Oban Railway (Library of Railway History)

Carlisle To Beattock: including the Dumfries Branch (Scottish Main Lines)

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Signalling the Caledonian Railway

The Caledonian Railway 'jumbos' the 18in. X 26in. 0-6-0s

The Caledonian, Scotland's Imperial Railway: A History

The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)

Through Scotland with the Caledonian Railway

Vanished Railways of West Lothian