SOUTH EAST BY NORTH BRITISH – TO KELSO
Kelso is a historic town in the Scottish Borders which was reached by branch lines built by two different companies, from opposite directions. Kelso station featured in two major rail operations 22 years apart, but never fulfilled the dreams of the railway builders so determined to reach it.
The burgh of Kelso is distinguished as a ducal community with an impressive continental-style central square and a ruined 13th century abbey. Nearby, the impressive Floors Castle overlooks the confluence of the Tweed and the Teviot. Not surprisingly, the Guardian newspaper recently described Kelso as “a mighty fine town”.
From the west, the North British Railway built towards the burgh in the mid-nineteenth century, while the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway approached from the east. The latter, of course, became the North Eastern Railway and the two companies made an end-on junction just to the east of Kelso. This article will concentrate on the North British branch, since it actually reached the town, despite considerable local opposition.
The wide Tweed valley – so wide it is virtually a plain, and known locally as the Merse – first had a railway mooted for it as early as 1806. Planned more as a waggonway than railway, the Berwick & Kelso line would have transported agricultural products to the sea at Spittal, near Tweedmouth, and in turn would import coal and lime. After an enthusiastic initial meeting at Kelso in 1806, a survey was commissioned from John Rennie, builder of the town’s 1804 bridge over the Tweed, one which was something of a template for his later Waterloo Bridge. The survey produced some interesting data.
The proposed waggonway would have comprised 22 miles of single track, but with earthworks spacious enough to allow later doubling, and costed at just over £4,000 per mile. One supportive landowner suggested keeping costs down by encouraging others to donate land to the railway concern – generosity which was certainly not in evidence later on the western side of Kelso, as will be revealed. Some 31,000 tons of coal and lime was anticipated as westbound cargo annually, with around 10,000 tons of agricultural produce being transported to the coast. One potential snag concerned the bridging of the Tweed which would be necessary as Kelso is on the north bank while Tweedmouth is on the south. Rennie was hoping that local communities might contribute to bridging costs, but the matter was complicated by the merchant community in Berwick (‘on’ the north side of the Tweed) agitating for the proposed waggonway to reach their town. This would probably have necessitated a Tweed bridge much lower down river and within a tidal reach. As it was, the survey appears to have assumed a higher crossing and a course south of, and parallel with, the river, not dissimilar to that of the later North Eastern branch – but this, of course, would not satisfy Berwick. Although the company was incorporated on 31st May 1811 – and with a pioneering clause allowing passenger traffic – the project came to nothing and was formally abandoned in 1838.
Around the same time, two other schemes were proposed, to bring railed transport to this, one of
