Riccarton Junction


Scottish Borders

An isolated settlement in the SW Scottish Borders, Riccarton Junction is located 1½ miles (2.5 km) north of Riccarton and 7 miles (11 km) north northeast of Newcastleton. It developed alongside the railway after the opening of Riccarton Junction Station in 1862, which served as the connection between two lines; namely the Border Counties Railway and the Border Union Railway (or Waverley Line). By the end of the 19th C. the settlement had a school, shop, post office and a village hall, serving a population of more than 100. The station had grown to include a number of sidings, an engine shed and a smithy. There was no resident doctor, so a light engine was kept in Hawick for the purpose of providing help in an emergency. Church trains were also provided to take worshippers Newcastleton and Hawick on alternate Sundays. The Border Counties branch closed in 1956, and the Waverley Line followed in 1969, bringing the closure of the station and furthering the decline of the settlement. There was no road connection until a forest track was constructed from Whitrope in the north in 1963. Some restoration work was undertaken on the railway station by the short-lived Friends of Riccarton Junction in the early 2000s, including the creation of a heritage centre, restoration of a platform and the re-laying of a short section of track. This project was abandoned in 2008.


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