Waverley Line - Line Closure and Beyond

Line Closure and Beyond

The line was included in those where passenger services were to be withdrawn in the Beeching Axe. On 17 August 1966 British Railways gave formal notice to close the line from 2 January 1967, with closure notices posted at all stations on the line. As 508 official objections were lodged against the closure within the required 6 weeks of the closure notice being issued; a reprieve was announced and the situation was on hold pending review. A public hearing was held in Hawick on 16 and 17 November 1967. On 15 July 1968 however, the Minister for Transport, Richard Marsh, gave the final order that the line would close on Monday, 6 January 1969. A public outcry ensued and there followed a high-profile campaign to save the line; including a petition delivered to 10 Downing Street on 18 December 1968. This was unsuccessful in preventing the closure.

The last passenger train (and the last train to traverse the entire route) was 1M82 21.56 Edinburgh Waverley - London St Pancras sleeper on Sunday 5 January 1969, hauled by Class 45 D60 "Lytham St Annes".

Feelings were running high along the route in the final weekend of passenger operations, with protesters evident at most stations, and the authorities, sensing the potential for trouble, sent a Clayton 'pilot' engine ahead of 1M82 under caution from Hawick to 'prove' the route south after a set of points at Whitrope had been found to be tampered with.

At Newcastleton, the pilot engine found the line was blocked and the level crossing gates locked by protesters. The disturbance led to the arrest of the local minister and he was released only after David Steel MP, who was travelling on the sleeper, negotiated with the police and addressed the protestors. This caused 1M82 to arrive two hours late in Carlisle.

On the afternoon of 8 January at Riddings Junction, BR staged a tracklifting 'ceremony' for the press to split the London Midland and Scottish Regions, demonstrating their determination to dismantle the route.

After the passage of 1M82, the line was formally closed to passengers, and the line between Hawick and Longtown closed completely and came under engineers' possession for dismantling.

Contracts with the coal industry forced British Rail to run freight traffic until Friday, 25 April 1969 from Millerhill to Galashiels, St. Boswells and Hawick with a daily service, mainly coal traffic from Lady Victoria Pit, but also oil tank wagons to St Boswells. The signalling was drastically reduced after passenger closure with 'telephone and notice board' with one train working. At the time the 42 mile 1078 yards, block section between Lady Victoria Pit and Hawick was the longest on the British Railway network. A signalman travelled with the daily train from Lady Victoria Pit south and return to operate the still open boxes and operate levers for sidings etc.

On 28 April 1969 the line was cut back to Lady Victoria Pit where traffic survived until December 1971, when the line was further cut back to Newtongrange at Butlerfield Washery, which in turn survived until June 1972.

At the southern end of the route the line between Carlisle Kingmoor and Longtown remained open to traffic until 31 August 1970 when it was cut back to Brunthill. The section from Carlisle Kingmoor to Brunthill remains open and sees periodic freight traffic although this remaining portion of the route is little more than a long siding.

Tracklifting had begun, but was temporarily halted in early 1969 while negotiations with British Rail were held to discuss buying the infrastructure by a private consortium, The Border Union Railway Co. Various options were put forward to keep the route open, such as singling large sections and reducing the number of signal boxes, and a 'basic' DMU service to Edinburgh from Hawick only; but this came to nothing, and British Rail ceased negotiations on 23 December 1969 and formally announced this to the press on 6 January 1970, after requesting interest payments to keep the infrastructure 'in situ' while funding for the approximately £750,000 capital required was sought. Local authorities were also approached before and after closure to financially support a basic train service; but this too received no support.

There was a 2 year moratorium on disposal of the land on the route which was part of the closure process agreed by the Minister. Up to this point tracklifting had been limited to 'singling' sections of line, but the hiatus on tracklifting finished and work to dismantle the railway recommenced from November 1969.

An inspection saloon ran over the route in on 1 April 1970 to allow contractors to bid for the demolition work. Track lifting started in earnest and trains could be seen undertaking dismantling duties. The Down line between Hawick and Longtown was lifted by April 1971, the Up line having been lifted as early as February 1970. The entire route between Longtown to Newtongrange was removed by early 1972. The final stretch between Newtongrange and Millerhill was closed on 28 June 1972 and removed soon thereafter. By the end of 1972 only stubs at the north and south end of the route existed, as they still to do this day.

The last train to cross Hawick station viaduct did so on 18 April 1971. Hauled by D3880 (08713), it was lifting the line in rear of it. Hawick South signalbox was demolished on 13 July 1972, while work on dismantling the station buildings and goods shed started on 20 January 1975. Demolition of the viaduct over the River Teviot commenced nine months later, on 1 September 1975. After the closure and lifting of the line, the parcels office at Hawick and Galashiels remained open and British Rail vans continued to carry parcels traffic by road for a few more years.

In the late 1990s there was some discussion about reopening the southern section from Carlisle as far as Riccarton Junction. With the trees in the reforested areas of Kielder Forest now approaching maturity, the network of only minor roads and the local population were seen as being vulnerable to and unable to cope with a significantly increased logging traffic. Reinstating a single track was seen to provide transport capacity for heavy loads bypassing the villages, but the project was not pursued any further.