Whitrope Tunnel Sidings and Saughtree Station East 

1:30 looks like a class 27. My first ever 00 model was a Lima class 27. It was built like a tank and had a big lump of pig iron dropped in the middle of it for good measure. It would pull anything I wanted it to,.. apart from girls 🤷‍♀️

My guess as a former surveyor's assistant and railway history buff is: in the mid to late 1800's maps would show general terrain and rivers. Then railroads would hire a local group of guides, geographers and geologists to walk the proposed routings creating maps with something like 100' contour lines. Then the final step would be full on survey line point to point with elevations to the nearest foot and possible detailed geologic reports if cuts, grades and tunnels were involved.

I remember the compartments in the trains where you had the doors

Took my Grandchildren up to whithorpe tunnel and sidings the guys there are great kids loved it. great video

They were called 'platelayers cabins' and were where workmen could use for a break. If you wonder why there is a fireplace, you should try being up there in winter. Also, there's a great old film called 'Last Train to Riccarton Junction' which is fascinating. Last point, the village is pronounced 'Bellin-jm'. Great vid.

For anyone interested in the Border Counties Railway there is a book in the Middleton Press series. It's called "Hexham to Hawick-The Border Counties Railway" Full of interesting b/w photographs.

You two must be ultra effed out or ridiculously fit - setting the cam s you walk on then hvaving to leg it back to collect your cam!!!!!!!! 😉

Went on this line in the 1950s on a school railway trip to Edinburgh from Morecambe Euston Rd Station . Visited Forth Bridge , Edinburgh Castle , the City Zoo, Holyrood Palace , and back to Morecambe in one day . Steam trains every where , fantastic days then . Will this line ever come back? Time will tell .

The hut is a Workmans hut. Used for shelter by the men working on the railway.

Your videos are getting better and better thank you from New Zealand

Brilliant video! Definitely your most interesting trip so far!

Hi there, I am part of the team who are rebuilding the line at Whiteope, you are very welcome to come back if you’re in the area and have a look around, and we can take you up to the tunnel. Unfortunately it isn’t safe to go inside any more following a rock fall but you can still see it’s size.

The Class 26 was previously stored at the old power station at Methil. I remember seeing it on the back of a low-loader, parked in a lay-by waiting to cross the Forth Road Bridge on the day it was moved to its new home.

Another enjoyable video. Thanks to you and your bride. I was in England last week and the week before. Thought of you while I was riding the train to Manchester.

Great video, really enjoyed that.

Nice history video

A plate layers Hut If iam not mistaken ? . Another great film 😊

In Australia we call those huts "Fettler's" Shed/ Hut. A late comment but still finding more of your uploads great work Paul and Rebecca

BR 'yellabellies'. Ask t'spotters of the 70/80's.

Omg you two really do get around hey ..😛... you make ME feel out of breath after all that trekking along rail routes 😂 ! How many Km's would you travel during any one of your very interesting videos ? I love them ... I had no idea there are so many disused rail locations over there ... say Hi to Becky too 😁

It sounds like you had quite an interesting time there. And you were quite lucky with the weather! This is basically by the old main road to Carlisle from Hawick via Copshie, or Newcastleton on the OS maps. I think it legitimately has both names, although Copshie is a contraction of Copshaw Holm or Mains or maybe just Copshaw. It's always Copshie anyway. MP David Steele was quite involved with, the protests at Newcastleton which barricaded the way of the last train on the Waverley Route in Jan 1969. He was there too, and is pictured at the crossing gates with the crowd barricading the way. The A7 and the railway diverge from Hawick. This wasn’t always the case and the A7 route to Carlisle wasn't conceived till quite a bit later. Prior to that the railway and the main road followed each other. Presumably Ministry of Transport surveyors for roads were fed up getting lost at Copshie. They would have had just as interesting a time asking for directions to Saughtree or Bellingham, too, so were possibly that fed up they took the A7 by Langholm out of pure spite instead. I've a mate in this area and one Winter's day I cycled out to Whitrope. The evening was utterly dreich with some amazing fog. On an old XP computer there are some pics of that day which was in the early days of the Railway Soc. I haven't seen them for years but I'll never forget the fog, wet and clinging to everything with visibility down to less than 10 yards. The bike is an outline with a very bright and diffused rear light. It's the only colour, and it was only 3 p.m. Everything was so deathly still and muffled. No one in their right mind ought to have been there without good reason. I had parked the bike beside a very useful but draughty wooden shed with good and reasonable purpose. It consisted of the usual arrangement except that the water was turned off less it freeze and burst the pipe. What little spare space in there had been filled with plastic jerry cans, water for the use of, and if they froze, and burst, presumably you threw some ice on it, waited for the thaw and used the bushes meantime. This was also the access to the track bed for walking to Riccarton. There is no road. It’s possibly three miles from the nearest road. Some way along the trackbed is a rather nice bothy, off the railway line in a clearing. Riccarton had a bay platform for the end of the Borders Counties line. When the Border Counties Line closed, closed, there was a community with a few houses around the station. It was quite unique. It’s quite deserted now. I’ve no idea how all this and the access gets reconciled with the heritage railway. Last time I passed through, the rails could only go to the bridge over the road you come in on, so it was quite OK to walk. There was some farming type bloke in a 4 X 4 driving past Riccarton’s platforms on the trackbed which was being used as a right of way, and had seen quite a bit of use. So there must be some arrangement for alternative access. 10:06 The ubiquitous PW gang or platelayers' hut. The fire is self explanatory, see above!

There was a switcher@4:36..#110.

Loved the old class 141 "railbus" - remember them coming out mid 80s running from cleethorpes to Sheffield. Wonder why they have a solitary old livery virgin coach?

Guys you got to walk the old waverley line from Carlisle to gala loads to see plenty of old stations the owners are lovely they will let you look around then there is a old Army camp at stobbs near Hawick and prisoner's of war camp the railway had a station there Google earth have a look you would love it.

Greetings from Queensland Australia, amazing scenery, absolute delight to watch, the old lines make for great country walks. Isthere any plans for these old trails to be promoted for recreational use?. It does get me depressed unfortunately, today as a society, we cannot even repair what was built 100 years ago. Two acronyms come to mind “waw” and “myc” for what a waste and makes you cry.

Fascinating! Super video guys - thank you Would recommend you watch a Coast to Coast film on RU-vid called A Slow Train to Riccarton Junction. It includes a short clip of Saughtree Station whilst the line was in working order.

did you go to the big viaduct which is a little further north of whitrup as its pronounced up here, the viaduct is a sight to see, shankend. and as you came up to whitrup from the south by road you would have passed under the golden bridge, named that as it cost so much to build.

Platelayers hut my friend

The hut you describe between 09:43 and 09:51 is a platelayers hut that served as a shelter for trackworkers and a place to put their tools sometimes.

Private now open plan

And to think when this line fully re-opens ,which it is going to this preserved railway will be forced to vacate

Back in 1977 the compartments were only for first class passengers where before for everybody

Ah 26040

With the growth in rail freight it would not be that difficult to reopen this line.