The Border Counties Railway

[rogerfarnworth]

Part 1

At the end of August 2024, we visited Kielder Water Reservoir, passing through Bellingham on the way. We noticed a disused railway for which a good number of structures and embankments/cuttings remained in place.

This was the Border Counties Railway (BCR), a line connecting Hexham in Northumberland, with Riccarton Junction on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire.

The BCR was also known as the North Tyne Railway as it ran beside the River North Tyne for much of its length.

The Border Counties Railway – Part 1 – Hexham to Chollerton

The featured image above was included in a Steam Days article in September 2021. Crossing the River Tyne on approach to Border Counties Junction is Gresley ‘K3’ class 2-6-0 No 61897, a …

rogerfarnworth.com

The line between Kielder and Falstone is now under the waters of the Kielder Water Reservoir.

 

[Swanley 59]

Part 1

At the end of August 2024, we visited Kielder Water Reservoir, passing through Bellingham on the way. We noticed a disused railway for which a good number of structures and embankments/cuttings remained in place.

This was the Border Counties Railway (BCR), a line connecting Hexham in Northumberland, with Riccarton Junction on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire.

The BCR was also known as the North Tyne Railway as it ran beside the River North Tyne for much of its length.

The Border Counties Railway – Part 1 – Hexham to Chollerton

The featured image above was included in a Steam Days article in September 2021. Crossing the River Tyne on approach to Border Counties Junction is Gresley ‘K3’ class 2-6-0 No 61897, a …

rogerfarnworth.com

The line between Kielder and Falstone is now under the waters of the Kielder Water Reservoir.

I don't know if you have come across this rather nostalgic look back at the Border Counties line, Slow Train to RiccartonL but I find it fascinating

 

[rogerfarnworth]

Superb look at the line! Thank you Swanley 59.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Border Counties railway and its offshoots, the Wansbeck railway and the Rothbury branch, were unusual in being owned and operated by a Scottish pre-grouping railway company (the North British) but almost entirely in the English county of Northumberland. This was unusual, most companies operated in either one country or the other (give or take a few miles for the Caledonian to reach Carlisle). Indeed, the East Coast Main line between Newcastle and Edinburgh was operated by two companies, meeting at the relatively minor border town of Berwick, despite both companies (NER, NBR) being protege's of George Hudson

 

[Merle Haggard]

An oddity, about which my memory is sketchy, was that when B.R. closed a line around Bellingham, B.R. purchased a bus (from another B.T.C. member United) and gave it to a local operator; I think the operator's name was Fox. It was to provide a replacement bus service, and it's the only case I know of where that approach was used - elsewhere, B.R. just subsidised the local operator (usually one of the B.T.C. companies) to provide the service.

The operator later obtained a replacement bus from United, but I'm not sure whether B.R. were involved then, but it was very unusual for B.T.C. bus companies to sell individual buses.

 

[oldman]

An oddity, about which my memory is sketchy, was that when B.R. closed a line around Bellingham ...

There is a detailed account here, which amplifies what you said. It says Fox received several buses from United, and mentions another local operator - Batty of Morpeth.

 

[Calthrop]

The Border Counties railway and its offshoots, the Wansbeck railway and the Rothbury branch, were unusual in being owned and operated by a Scottish pre-grouping railway company (the North British) but almost entirely in the English county of Northumberland.

There comes to mind for me, a nice fragment of "purple prose" from C. Hamilton Ellis, describing this as the North British having "kicked its way into Holy Northumberland".

This was unusual, most companies operated in either one country or the other (give or take a few miles for the Caledonian to reach Carlisle). Indeed, the East Coast Main line between Newcastle and Edinburgh was operated by two companies, meeting at the relatively minor border town of Berwick, despite both companies (NER, NBR) being protege's of George Hudson

It's my perception that this thing was altogether highly "unbalanced and unfair", to the advantage of the Scottish companies. As well as the abovementioned: in the general Solway Firth area, the Caledonian got also -- via its somewhat freakish Solway Junction sector -- a significant way into areas of Cumberland west of Carlisle; and on the same "patch", the North British owned the Carlisle -- Silloth branch, all in England. The only incidence of "the other way about" which I'm aware of, was on the Tweedmouth -- St. Boswells route: a literal couple of miles of the North Eastern in Scotland, from Carham on the border, westward to the end-on Sprouston Junction, with North Britsh trackage.

 

[norbitonflyer]

There comes to mind for me, a nice fragment of "purple prose" from C. Hamilton Ellis, describing this as the North British having "kicked its way into Holy Northumberland".


It's my perception that this thing was altogether highly "unbalanced and unfair", to the advantage of the Scottish companies. As well as the abovementioned: in the general Solway Firth area, the Caledonian got also -- via its somewhat freakish Solway Junction sector -- a significant way into areas of Cumberland west of Carlisle; and on the same "patch", the North British owned the Carlisle -- Silloth branch, all in England. The only incidence of "the other way about" which I'm aware of, was on the Tweedmouth -- St. Boswells route: a literal couple of miles of the North Eastern in Scotland, from Carham on the border, westward to the end-on Sprouston Junction, with North Britsh trackage.

According to my trusty "pregrouping atlas" all cross-border lines were owned by the NBR or the Caledonian, with the single minor exception of the NER between Carham and Sprouston you mention.

The Caledonian's incursions only went as far as necessary to make a junction with an English line -

• from the Solway Viaduct to Brayton on the Maryport & Carlisle (including running powers over the NBR Silloth branch in Cumberland between Kirkbride and Abbeyholme),
• on the main line from the border at Gretna to Carlisle Citadel (which it owned jointly with the LNWR)

The G&SWR also used Carlisle Citadel, although it owned no track of its own in England, using Caledonian tracks from Gretna Junction, just north of the border.

The NBR, on the other hand, had

• the branch from Riccarton Junction to Morpeth (which crossed the border at Deadwater), with branches to Hexham and Rothbury
• Carlisle to Silloth - entirely within England
• the Waverley route from Carlisle to the border at Kershope Foot
• a short llength of the ECML between Berwick and the border at Marshall Meadows

The Langholm branch, although almost entirely in Scotland, could only be reached from the rest of the NBR network via England (Riddings Junction, on the Waverley route)

 

[Calthrop]

Maybe "taking it to another level"; but -- as well as all upthread -- there was involvement ("foreign" companies on one, and the other, side of the Border) in various joint-lines contexts. Two jointly-owned short freight-only sections in Carlisle city, with, variously, NB / Caledonian / GSW, participating; and, in Scotland, the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Joint, and the Forth Bridge Joint undertaking: Midland, LNW, North Eastern, and Great Northern, variously involved -- possibly others.

 

[Rescars]

Maybe "taking it to another level"; but -- as well as all upthread -- there was involvement ("foreign" companies on one, and the other, side of the Border) in various joint-lines contexts. Two jointly-owned short freight-only sections in Carlisle city, with, variously, NB / Caledonian / GSW, participating; and, in Scotland, the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Joint, and the Forth Bridge Joint undertaking: Midland, LNW, North Eastern, and Great Northern, variously involved -- possibly others.

Joint ownership extended beyond the lines themselves, with East Coast Joint Stock and West Coast Joint Stock carriages jointly owned by the various relevant English and Scottish companies to provide through services between London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.