Tweedbank - Edinburgh

Reopened in 2015 after years of campaigning the 35 mile Borders Railway running from Tweedbank near Galashiels to Edinburgh, is a fine example of modern British engineering.Sit back and and see the landscape change at every curve as this Class 158 traverses it’s way Northwards through the Borders and Midlothian, before arriving at Waverley station. Like and Subscribe

[@Aidankiwi]

The 1969 closure of the Waverley route had to be the most absurd of the 1960s closures.

[@keithpettman6533]

Is this a 125 Video

[@petermolloy6142]

@@keithpettman6533 Not unless you’re talking in kilometres, it might come somewhere near then!!

[@jimhowison2225]

I agree with that. Now it will be difficult and expensive to extend and double track it once again!

[@dvidclapperton]

@@jimhowison2225 At Galashiels station it's impossible to double track unless traffic returns to the old 2 way road system in town centre. Too many of the bridges fit a single track, but they could have been built to fit 2 tracks going through. You can't have 2 tracks for the entire route, but there could easily be a lot more 2 track sections.

[@Saxon1947]

Thanks for a great video ,been on the line year every since it opened never tire of this journey now in self isolation I get to go again! Thanks from York 👍

[@robertcoleman4861]

Hello from sydney australia,Wonderful scenic journey,This is a fine example of a line that should never have closed down,cheer's bob.

[@garyrafiq9561]

A very scenic route. It would be nice for the passengers if the driver's eye view can be displayed on TV screens in the cars.

[@johnmclean8015]

In the late '70s I would take the bus between Gala and Edinburgh along the A7, gazing wistfully out of the window at the track bed of the Waverley Line whenever it came into view.

[@tango6nf477]

What a lovely and scenic route which as you say provides a change at every curve, what a fantastic route for a steam locomotive this would be.

[@fp4man542]

In recent years, there have been steam specials running each Sunday during the month of August. I've posted a couple of videos on my channel.

[@nigel2093]

Great video, thanks for posting

[@ThomasWhiteford]

Nice one. Loving the Drivers eye view Cab Ride videos.

[@alisonsimpson125]

Great video thanks for sharing beautiful scenery

[@Ostruszak]

I have no idea why most videos from this line (side or cab view) is taking on big zoom, it lacks the feel of speed - unusual for so local lines. Anyway thanks for this possibility of travel between Scottish Borders hills & greetings from south Poland!

[@Alan_UK]

Good to see the old bridges have been repaired and the parapets raised using stone. Down south seen too many stone bridges with raised metal or brick parapets and ugly brick repairs. I'm surprised in the re-build they installed visual signals given that Scotland pioneered (I believe) radio signalling direct to the cab.

[@ChangesOneTim]

The train service is too frequent for radio electronic token block to be used.

[@aldorfc220]

Hope they put this route in train sim 3 😂 Great video

[@aldorfc220]

Or train sim 4

[@CliqueSpace]

The disused rail beds are still being shown on Google Maps east of Gorebridge station. I could still follow the route (the station names are even labelled), but someone might like to update google maps to show up to date maps and aerial photos. :)

[@keninblack]

This is my favourite rail map to follow Owen - www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php - quite hard to believe how many railways we once had running in this country.

[@milesthemelonator]

I emailed them this a good 4 years ago with no response

[@cowdengelly1995]

Great video, I've been waiting for this route to be covered. Just waiting for someone to post a covering of the Fife Circle (not the Scotrail version which only covers the coast).

[@jontownsend8090]

Great video of the route. Can't wait for work to start extending the line south through to Carlisle. One negative is the lack of provision for double track. Once this becomes a through route in future, it would benefit double track in its entirety. The line through Galashiels will need to be rebuilt with new bridges etc.

[@alastairpreston3237]

I'm old enough to remember when it WAS double track ( I travelled on the Edinburgh - Eskbank section several times as a child in the 1950s, and I've seen plenty of pictures of the line south of Eskbank from the same period and earlier ). If you look carefully, you can see that the older bridges have double track spans. The two original platforms at Eskbank, just north of the Lasswade Road bridge, are still there. albeit overgrown.

[@simonpitt8145]

You may be waiting a long time for it to become a through route. Still, you look quite young so it may just be in your lifetime!!!

[@dvidclapperton]

It's too tight at Galashiels station. There's a dual carriagewsy (the A7) southbound running alongside and a big Asda store close by. I don't know how they solve that one without congesting Galashiels Town Centre again and building a new Asda somewhere else in the town.

[@dvidclapperton]

@@simonpitt8145 I gsther many of the old viaducts south of Hawick were destroyed Perhaps a special connection coach could operate from Tweedbank to Carlisle and into the station forecourt.

[@dvidclapperton]

@@alastairpreston3237 After Carlisle it's onwards to London Euston on the same train.

[@janetturner7489]

Thanks for this a train route now on my bucket list. I think the Borders is an underrated part of Scotland, judging by the scenery from the train.

[@petes48]

Having been on this line on a chater train in 2016, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the cab vew. Shame all the single track if a southward extension ever done.

[@grendel_nz]

So glad i went on this new service the day before the queen. It should go all the way to Carlisle. Shame they were so short sighted to not bother to design the new bridges to allow dual lines in the future. Could no one in UK make a curved metal bridge anymore? No one had the skill to make and build a curved spaceous bridge for the same money as the square boring concrete ones they went with? And why so noisy in the cab? Can't they make a modern cab quiet for the driver?? Or insulate the cab they have to use?? You'd have to wear earplugs for H&S in that noise.

[@AndrewG1989]

Why not reconnect the line from Tweedbank to Carlisle with some places including Melrose, St. Boswells, Hawick, Shankend, Riccarton Junction, Newcastleton and Canonbie to have railway stations reopened. As well the disused viaducts including Ale Water Viaduct, Teviot Viaduct , Lynnwood Viaduct, Stobs Viaduct, Shankend Viaduct, Sandholm Viaduct, Thistle Viaduct and Longtown Viaduct and Whitrope Tunnel to be re-used. And the Caldew Junction north of Carlisle station to be reinstated. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Railway en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Route

[@Brigantius]

I hope they do extend it to Hawick at least, and soon, and hopefully Melrose and Gala as well, although the latter are difficult because the new road was built on top of the old rail route, which I believe is why the line terminates at Tweedbank at the moment. I have connections with Hawick and Melrose and the sooner all three are directly linked to the line the better in my opinion.

[@simonpitt8145]

Why the hell would the Scots want to extend all the way to Carlisle for? I thought the Scots hated the English!! They all want to part from us so I'd be surprised if this is their real motivation, although they probably think they can get us English to pay for it, which we probably would as we're so dumb. On a less in tongue in cheek topic, I certainly think an extension to Hawick is justified. I believe there is still enough of the original formation by the by-pass at Melrose for a single track to be continued. The southbound ( down ? ) platform and the original station building are still extant. The biggest engineering problem would be the approach to and the site of the actual station at Hawick itself, as this area has been completely re-landscaped and is occupied by a leisure centre. This extension would assist Hawick in keeping up with its friendly neighbour Galashiels, and help keep cars of the roads.

[@milesthemelonator]

Extending to Melrose would be structurally very difficult and expensive, but I hope it happens

[@paulharvey9149]

Interesting. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to those non-junctions mind. You can just about work out where they'd intended additional or longer dynamic loops; but I assume line speeds would be affected by sharper curves if the entire thing were double track? Was this before platforms 5 and 6 were reinstated at Waverley?

[@More-Space-In-Ear]

What a shame the trains window make this look like 144p quality, seems a nice route..

[@willswheels283]

Great vid and train ride mate, enjoyed that, great scenery. Hoping to take the train soon myself so this has “whet my appetite” so to speak. Shame the section past Tweedbank to Carlisle is still closed though, will it be extended to Hawick?

[@limeyfox]

Somebody should approach Dovetail Games about developing this as a Train Simulator route.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Single track with one platform stations? I initially thought this must a line between major Australian cities.

[@DustinSteiner]

When did you record this? The onboard announcements seem older than the upload date and passing trains look like the old First ScotRail livery. Love the route and wished it was even further down.

[@junglejamesie]

Disappointing to see how much of the new infrastructure is built to single track width. Would it really have broke the bank to have made overbridges 8-10 feet wider? Short sighted stuff. Also, how was there double track on the Glenesk Viaduct in the past? Or was it always single? Doesn't look wide enough for two tracks.

[@railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf]

Some depressing slow speed limits at present. These will have to increase significantly when the line opens though to Carlisle, and as much double track as possible. Eventually, the entire Edinburgh to Carlisle will need to be double track to achieve maximum efficiency. Roll on Tweedbank to Carlisle soon.

[@mcleodclan]

Is this a reopened railway line? If so it’s magnificent 😉👍🏻

[@johnsmart964]

Yes, it is. It used to be a double track throughout.

[@JM-qu3el]

Why did the train not call at Stow?

[@borderstrains7985]

Off-peak service

[@davidchadwick7559]

The majority of the route is single track and lies slap bang in the centre of the original formation, was this Nicola Sturgeons idea?

[@andrewbatty8954]

I never knew Nicola Sturgeon was a railway engineer. Why wasn't I told?

[@petermolloy6142]

No, it wasn’t, it was Alex Salmond doing things as cheaply as he could. After all, he was always more interested in road than railways and, as a second drag, civil servants always seem to under-estimate the amount of traffic that a re-opened railway will produce. Look at how they estimated that 20,000 people a year would use the re-opened station at Laurencekirk: in the first month 60,000 people used it. Scotrail had to make some hurried adjustments to cope with that sort of increase in ridership!

[@grassytramtracks]

And the new bridges aren't wide enough for 2 tracks as a passive provision for future doubling

[@rubyait]

This looks to be a fairly new route judging by the bridges. Most are ugly square monsters. I was really disappointed.

[@grassytramtracks]

It shut in 1969 and reopened in 2015