The Border Union Railway was a railway line which connected places in the south of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and Cumberland in England. It was authorised on 21 July 1859 and advertised as the

Waverley Route The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...

by the promoters - the

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

.Awdry (1990) It connected the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway at with .

History

The first section of the route was opened between Carlisle and Scotch Dyke on 12 October 1861, to Newcastleton on 1 March 1862, Riccarton Junction on 2 June 1862 and throughout on 24 June 1862. The railway was built as a double-track main line throughout.

Connections to other lines

* Edinburgh and Hawick Railway at *

Border Counties Railway The Border Counties Railway was a railway line connecting in Northumberland, with on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire. Its promoter had hopes of exploiting mineral resources in the area, and it was taken up by the North British Railway, ...

at *

Caledonian Railway Main Line The Caledonian Railway main line in Scotland connected Glasgow and Edinburgh with Carlisle, via Carstairs and Beattock. It was opened in 1847 by the Caledonian Railway. The approach to Glasgow used railways already built, primarily for minera ...

at Gretna *

Maryport and Carlisle Railway The Maryport & Carlisle Railway (M&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1836 which built and operated a small but eventually highly profitable railway to connect Maryport and Carlisle in Cumbria, England. There were many small collieries ...

Newcastle and Carlisle Railway The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between ...

, Midland Railway Settle and Carlisle Line and

Lancaster and Carlisle Railway The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was a main line railway opened between those cities in 1846. With its Scottish counterpart, the Caledonian Railway, the Company launched the first continuous railway connection between the English railway networ ...

at Carlisle Citadel

Current operations

The line was closed to all traffic by British Railways on 5 January 1969. The line was dismantled in 1971. The Waverley Route Heritage Association have preserved a part of the former route at Whitrope and are working on reopening the section from its base at Whitrope itself down into Riccarton Junction as a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Historical Scottish railway companies Closed railway lines in Scotland Closed railway lines in North West England Transport in the Scottish Borders Rail transport in Cumbria Transport in Dumfries and Galloway Railway companies established in 1859 Railway lines opened in 1862 Railway companies disestablished in 1922 1859 establishments in England British companies established in 1859 British companies disestablished in 1922