Whiterope Junction, certainly a bit of history in the middle of nowhere.

As promised in an earlier blog,   I was heading home from Keilder area on Sunday when I managed to get slightly lost ( had not switched on the Sat Nav), and found myself heading south west instead of north east !!!   Anyway, spotted a sign for Hawick, 22 miles that a way, so headed up and over the hills.  Passed under a large bridge which I thought was off and short distance away spotted some old rolling stock near the side of the road, and a sign for Whiterope Junction, Railway Heritage Centre. In need of a wee break I decided to take a peek and found myself at a small railway museum, manned by five volunteers from the Border Union Railway trust.  The volunteers had managed, over the past few years to reinste about half a mile of track, from the now closed Whiterope tunnel south through the Whiterope Junction and onto the bridge I had previously ridden under.

They had a small metro type train, which had previously been based in the USA,  run on diesel which they ran up and down the track.

The Whiterope Tunnel has been closed off for the safety of the public, however, it is repairable and there is a suggestion that this route, formerly part of the original Waverley Line from Hawick to Cumbria could be reopened !!

In the refurbished Pullman carriage in the siding, there was a tea room and also a small museum which was full of interesting artifacts, photos, documents, etc.

 This part of the original line ran all the way from Edinburgh to Carlisle, meeting with another line just south at the Riccarton Junction which in its hey day was a small village of about one hundred and forty people who were all associated with the railway.   In the era of steam trains climbed from the tunnel up and over Whiterope summit before dropping down to Riccarton.

In all a very interesting stop off for me,  the Centre I believe will be closed to the public now over the Winter period until the spring.