Waverley Line

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Lothianbridge viaduct

The Waverley Route is an abandoned, double track, railway line that ran south from Edinburgh in Scotland, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders to Carlisle in England. It was built by the North British Railway Company; the first section from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849. The final section, Carlisle to Hawick, opened in 1862. It was named the Waverley route after the novel by Sir Walter Scott.

The line was closed in 1969 by the infamous Beeching Axe.

The Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill is currently going through the Scottish Parliament with the aim of re-opening of the line as far as Tweedbank, just south of the burgh of Galashiels.

With the allocation of £115 million of funding from the Scottish Executive, it is hoped the line could be in operation as early as 2011 providing commuter rail services as well as opportunities for greater tourism and investment in Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.

The proposed route for the new services extends along the existing Edinburgh suburban service to Newcraighall then on through new stations at Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank.

However, recently there has been protests to the line as a proportion of people feel it will only serve a small area and may destroy land and livelihoods.

External links

• [Waverley Railway Project]
• [Waverley Route Heritage Association]
• [Protests over line]

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