Border Counties Railway

Border Counties Railway
Overview
StatusClosed
Locale
Service
TypeHeavy rail
History
Commenced11 December 1855
Opened2 April 1858 (1858-04-02)
Completed24 June 1862
Merged intoNorth British Railway - 1860
Merged intoLondon North Eastern Railway - 1923
Merged intoBritish Railways - 1948
Closed
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map

Riccarton Junction
Saughtree
Scotland
England
Deadwater
Kielder
Lewiefield Halt
Plashetts
Plashetts Colliery Waggonway
portion of line flooded by Kielder Water
Falstone
Thorneyburn
Tarset
Charlton
Bellingham
Reedsmouth
Countess Park
(1859–1861)
Wark
Barrasford
Chollerton
Chollerford
(later Humshaugh)
Wall
Border Counties Junction
Hexham

The Border Counties Railway was a railway line connecting Hexham in Northumberland, with Riccarton Junction on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire.

Its promoter had hopes of exploiting mineral resources in the area, and it was taken up by the North British Railway, which hoped to develop it as a through main line between Edinburgh and Newcastle upon Tyne.

The railway opened in stages between 1858 and 1862, but the anticipated level of commercial traffic did not materialise, and the sparse population produced very little local passenger traffic. The line closed to passengers in 1956 and completely in 1963.


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