How the Borders Railway creates a new future for Scotland's "forgotten" region

More than 50 years later, Elliot vividly remembers travelling by train from her home in Hawick to the capital to visit her boy at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. She says the train was a lifeline for her and many of the other passengers she met.

A few years later, in 1969, the line between Edinburgh, Hawick ad Carlisle was shut down as part of the infamous Beeching cuts, which redrew the railway map of Britain.

She and her daughter were at the forefront of the campaign to save the railway, though their efforts – which included delivering a petition to 10 Downing Street alongside then-MP David Steel in 1968 – came to nothing.

“It was just so wrong that the railway closed,” says Elliot, now 87, when we meet in the Borders village of Tweedbank.

“At the time, lots of people were getting cars – that was the future. I remember one woman refused to sign because her dad was a bus driver. Can you imagine?

“Our campaign failed and I was so disappointed. It was clear that the government had every intention of closing the line – that was that.”

But this wasn’t the end of the story, of course: two weeks tomorrow, the area will be on the rail map once again. The new £294m Borders Railway line doesn’t run as far as Hawick and Carlisle, but it will connect the region to the rail network for the first time in almost half a century, with a line that runs from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, calling at eight stations – including Galashiels – in between, with a journey time of 55 minutes.

The line is the result of a 20-year campaign by local people and rail enthusiasts. It's been paid for by the Scottish Government, built by Network Rail and will be operated by ScotRail. And in a fitting local touch, one of the ScotRail diesel engines has been named after Madge, to mark her lifelong commitment to the line.

As proud as she is to receive such an honour, Elliot is more keen to talk about what the new railway will bring to her beloved Borders.

“This is such a beautiful area of Scotland and after the war towns like Hawick boomed but then the railway closed and the Borders became very isolated. You can’t attract new industry if you don’t have a railway.”

She sees the new line, which will be opened by the Queen, as a new start. “We all have to work hard to bring people down to visit, and to attract young families to make this area their home,” she explains. “This will hopefully create a whole new future for the Borders.”

While driving through this area you can see exactly what Madge means. The first thing that strikes the visitor is how beautiful this region is, with its rolling hills, lush countryside, fascinating history and abundance of attractive villages and towns. But the second is how isolated it feels, despite its proximity to the central belt. I am struck by how little I know about this area and its people, how little it seems to feature in recent narratives of Scotland. Perhaps the new line will help change that.

Madge isn’t the only one who thinks the railway has a key role to play in improving the fortunes of the Borders.

Author and railway expert David Spaven has written extensively about the history of the line, and has been campaigning for its return for decades. His book Waverley Route: The Battle for the Borders Railway recounts the story from the struggle in the mid-19th century to take the line to Carlisle, through its closure and the more recent battle to reinstate it.

“This was probably the worst of the Beeching cuts,” he tells me when we meet at Newtongrange, one of the new stations on the line. “Ninety eight miles of mainline, double track railway was closed overnight, leaving the Borders as the only part of Britain without a train service, and Hawick and Galashiels further from the rail network than towns of their size in any other part of Britain. This was a really drastic cut.”

Following the closure of the railway, the journey time to Edinburgh via public transport – the bus – almost doubled, and all freight services had to go by road. Big sections of the line were lost to housing and roads in the “usual short-sighted British way”, according to Spaven. Industries such as textiles and electronics suffered, and the population started to dwindle.

Then in the mid-1990s the beginnings of a grassroots campaign to reinstate the line gradually started to gather momentum. The campaigners took to the streets and, despite initial apathy, eventually attracted 17,000 signatures to a petition, which was put to the then new Scottish Parliament. A parliamentary hearing in 2000 in Galashiels – the first to be held outside Edinburgh – recommended the reopening of the railway.

After years of delays and the falling apart of various plans and models, the Scottish Government eventually signed a deal with Network Rail in 2012 to build the line. Construction started in 2013, and now 30.5 miles of mostly single track line has been installed, on time and on budget.

It’s not perfect, say the campaigners, but it’s a good start.

“The fact that the Borders will no longer be the only region of Britain without a rail service is fundamental, and helps in terms of economic development and bringing in tourists,” explains Spaven, a lifelong rail enthusiast who as a boy wrote to Prime Minister Harold Wilson pleading with him not to close the line.

“Also, in terms of social inclusion, the line will transform public transport between Galashiels and Edinburgh – the bus takes 83 minutes, the train will take 50-55 minutes. That’s a massive difference, especially for people who don’t have a car. In Midlothian, the train will now be a very attractive alternative to the bus or the car, and will have a whole new new park and ride market.

“The new transport interchange at Galashiels will also benefit everyone in the area.”

But there have been major compromises, according to Spaven, who says the jury is out over some aspects of the new line.

The lack of double track line has created concerns around reliability, as if there's a problem with the track the line has to close, as there is no second line to use. While the fact that every train will stop at every station means for some there will not be a huge time advantage in taking the train over driving.

But the most cutting disappointment for campaigners has been the fact that the new line does not run to Melrose, Hawick and Carlisle, as the old Waverley Line did.

He says a campaign has already begun to push for an extension of the line, though he admits the scale of the infrastructure work needed would be a considerable challenge. Hawick is the next milestone.

According to Spaven, tourism was not initially considered by the planners to be a key consideration, but he says this “bizarre” omission has now been rectified and holidaymakers and daytrippers from both north and south are seen as hugely important to the success of the line. VisitScotland hopes the railway will inspire some of the 3.4 million tourists who come to Edinburgh every year to venture south to explore Midlothian and the Borders.

Tourism minister Fergus Ewing said recently that he expected interest in the line would be “enormous”, adding that its success would strengthen the case for further expansion.

There are already signs that the railway is having a positive economic impact on the area. Chef Albert Roux is to open a restaurant at the Roxburghe Hotel in Kelso on the back of the line, while a new town is under way on the Edinburgh/Midlothian border, with a new railway station just 13 minutes from Edinburgh Waverley at its heart.

Shawfair, a £150m new development, is Scotland’s biggest urban expansion project, and will eventually have 4000 homes, two primary schools and a new secondary, community facilities and a million feet of commercial space. The developers, Buccleuch Property, say the railway line is “fundamental” to the town, which will take shape over the next 15 to 20 years.

They hope the project will provide a much-needed jobs boost to the area and eventually contribute £100m a year to the economy.

The line itself has also provided jobs – 1100 during the building of the line and

32 new jobs at ScotRail, including 13 drivers and 13 conductors.

One of the new drivers is 29-year-old Stuart Farrell from Selkirk, who will be based at Tweedbank Station.

“Growing up in the Borders, I never even thought of becoming a driver as no trains ran throughout my childhood,” he said.

“When the job was advertised it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I grabbed it. The training was tough and demanding – our baby daughter arrived in the middle, which made it even more demanding – but it feels very special to be a part of history and I feel really privileged to be one of the first drivers on the new line.”

Stuart admits to be nervous and excited about his first run, but like the vast majority of fellow Borders folk, he sees the line as a new beginning.

“The new railway will link the Borders with the rest of the country, but most importantly for me it will give young people the chance to pursue careers and further education without having to move away.”

Spaven admits there have been many frustrations and delays along the way, but says for those who have spent decades campaigning to restore rail services to the Borders, Sunday September 6, when the first passenger trains will make their way south from Edinburgh through some Scotland’s most beautiful countryside, will be a wonderful a day.

“I’m sure it will be very emotional for us the day the train comes back for the first time," he smiles.

“The success of the campaign is quite remarkable. But it’s also terribly important that the campaigners who were central to the reopening get proper acknowledgement.

“One of the reasons I wrote the book is that the establishment always rewrites history and these projects tend to become the creation of governments – the grassroots campaigners are forgotten.

“From the beginning, this has been all about people. When Madge became involved back in the sixties it was all about people and the hardships they would face if their railway was closed.

"Now, 50 years later, it’s still all about the people and their will to drive this campaign forward.”

Station to station

Tweedbank

Time to Edinburgh: 55 minutes

As the name suggests, this village is right on the river Tweed and just a couple of miles from Galashiels. It is also the best place to get off to visit Sir Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford.

Galashiels

Time to Edinburgh: 50 minutes

Gala, as it is known locally, is the biggest town in the Borders and the area’s commercial centre. Known for its textiles, it is home to Heriot-Watt University’s textile campus.

Stow

Time to Edinburgh: 42 minutes

This charming village has a population of less than 1000 and sits in a stunning Borders valet. There has been a church in the village for more than 1000 years and it has a rare packhorse bridge, built in the 1650s.

Gorebridge

Time to Edinburgh: 25 minutes

Stretching across the river Gore, a tributary of the South Esk, this Midlothian village is the birthplace of actress Annette Crosby, and is known locally for it’s the King’s Cave.

Newtongrange

Time to Edinburgh: 21 minutes

This former mining village in Midlothian is now home to the National Mining Museum of Scotland. Also worth a visit is the Dean Tavern, a rare Gothenburg pub, or “goth”, meaning most profits go to the local community.

Eskbank

Time to Edinburgh: 18 minutes

This upmarket area of Dalkeith is now a popular area with young families thanks to an array of new housing developments, making it a prime commuter territory.

Shawfair

Time to Edinburgh: 13 minutes

Named after a local farm, this new urban development covering 700 acres will eventually incorporate a commercial centre and 4,000 new homes.

Newcraighall

Time to Edinburgh: 11 minutes

This former mining village, now a suburb of south east Edinburgh, is the setting of the Bill Douglas film My Childhood. The village is also home to a sculpture celebrating its mining tradition by Jake Harvey.

Brunstane

Time to Edinburgh: 9 minutes

Site of the Fort Kinnaird Retail Park and a campus of Edinburgh College, this populous suburb is also the best stop on the line for Portobello beach.

Waverley

End/beginning of the line

Edinburgh’s main railway station, named after the novels by Sir Walter Scott, whose home can be visited at the other end of the line.