Riddings Junction

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Riddings Junction (1862-1964)

Opened on the Border Union Railway (North British Railway).
Opened on the Langholm Branch (North British Railway).

Description

This was the junction between the Waverley Route and the branch to Langholm. It was a three platform station, two main line platforms and the main northbound was an island whose second face, on west side of the station, served the branch.

The Langholm branch opened for minerals to Canonbie Colliery in 1862 and for all traffic to Langholm in 1864

The single storey main station building was on the southbound platform with a waiting room on the island platform. The branch platform was looped off the northbound line north and south of the station (originally the main northbound platform gave access to the branch too). The single track branch itself ran independently and parallel to the main line for a short distance to the north before striking off north over the Liddel Viaduct. Long looped sidings were on the east side of the station, accessed from the south.

There was a signal box at the south end of the southbound platform.

The locomotive shed for the branch was at Langholm.

The station closed to passengers in 1964, when the Langholm branch closed to passengers. The Langholm branch closed completely in 1967. The signal box closed in 1968. In 1969 all lines closed. A symbolic first track panel was lifted near the station, with the Press invited to the event.

The site is private. Station cottages, to the east of the former station, have survived. The main station building and stationmaster's house have also survived. Platforms have been infilled. Ridding Farm, for which the station was named, has sheds on the trackbed.

When first opened the main line was single track north from here to Riccarton Junction. It was doubled later in the opening year.

There were catch points on northbound line, a quarter mile south.

Just to the south of this due to the railway's construction the mid point of the River Esk was moved west, allowing a straighter alignment of railway to be built. As a result of this at 'Liddel Strength' (a motte and bailey castle) the railway crosses the border twice in quick succession, occupying as it did the former course of the river. The original course of the river was still obvious and flooded in the early years of the line, it has since silted up (see the entry for Liddel Strength for a link to a OS map). (Another such anomaly exists between Knighton and Bucknell. Diversions of river courses are not uncommon another exists at [[Fountainhalll where the Gala Water was diverted for the station site leaving a road bridge to cross a removed river.)

Further south again was the rail served Moat Quarry.

Tags

Station junction

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
08/11/2020




Chronology Dates

01/07/1862Border Union Railway (North British Railway)
The line from Edinburgh Waverley to Carlisle Citadel via Galashiels and Hawick [2nd] is completed. The line opened from Hawick [2nd] to Scotch Dyke. Stations opened at Hawick [2nd], Barnes, Shankend, Riccarton, Steele Road, Newcastleton, Kershope Foot, Penton, Riddings Junction (and Canonbie on the incomplete Langholm branch). (Alternative date 01/08/1862.)
15/06/1964Langholm Branch (North British Railway)
Langholm to Riddings Junction closed to passengers.
18/09/1967Langholm Branch (North British Railway)
Langholm to Riddings Junction (excluded) 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)

An Illustrated History of Carlisle's Railways

Border Country Branch Line Album

Border Railway Portfolio

Borders Railway Rambles

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Forgotten Railways: Scotland

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

Last Years of the Waverley Route

North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

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

Railway to Langholm

Railways Of Scotland 2: The Waverley Route DVD - Cinerail

The North British Railway a History

The Waverley Route Through Time

The Waverley Route: The District Controller's View 'Edinburgh (Waverley) - Carlisle Via Hawick'

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

Waverley: Portrait of a Famous Route