Ravenswood Junction

Location type

Junction

Name and dates

Ravenswood Junction (1865-1965)

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

Description

This was the junction between the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (North British Railway) of 1849 and the Berwickshire Railway of 1865.

The Berwickshire extended the North British Railway's Dunse Branch (North British Railway), completing a through route from St Boswells via Duns to Reston [1st] on the East Coast Main Line.

The junction allowed trains to run from St Boswells rather than from Galashiels [1st] and Melrose. There was a bay at the north end of St Boswells station, on the west side, for these trains. The Duns route of the North British was to some extent in competition with the North British and North Eastern Railway route via Kelso.

After severe flood damage to the Duns route in 1948 the line was cut back becoming a goods only branch to Greenlaw. This closed in 1965.

As built, the junction was double with a signal box on the north side. The branch became single track after one train length. Following the cut back, this became a single lead junction. The box closed in 1965, with the Greenlaw branch.

The formation remains mostly intact although increasingly overgrown. The route north of the branch has been severed by the A6091, a re-alignment of the original road which was further north. This same road has obliterated the route of the main line west to Newstead [Melrose].

The disused Leaderfoot Viaduct is to the north on the former Greenlaw route.

Tags

Junction

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

02/10/1865Berwickshire Railway
Line extended from Earlston over the Leaderfoot Viaduct to St Boswells (Ravenswood Junction).
13/08/1948Berwickshire Railway
St Boswells (Ravenswood Junction) to Duns (excluded) is closed to passengers. The Langton Burn Bridge, between Duns and Greenlaw, is washed away and the track is left hanging, bridging the gap. Due to this flood damage Greenlaw to Duns is closed to all traffic. St Boswells to Reston via Duns ceases to be a through route.
19/07/1965Berwickshire Railway
Ravenswood Junction (excluded) to Greenlaw closed to freight.

Books


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

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

St Boswells to Berwick: Via Duns the Berswickshire Railway (Country Railway Routes)

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