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Elizabeth II dedicates Britain’s longest rail line in a century
Over here it was great as the reopening made the lead story on all the national networks. The line runs through some lovely country to very close to Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. There is a service every half hour through most of the day and regular steam specials. The countryside it passes through is superb. There is now a growing campaign to reopen the next bit to Hawick and eventually right back to Carlisle.
I’m so glad to see this story in TRAINS. Queen Elizabeth’s tenure was widely reported here on national media, but this is the first mention of the railway aspect. What a special day! I’m going to put visiting this railway and seeing this locomotive on my bucket list.
How appropriate on this special day, not only the linking of these two locales by rail, but also the symbolic linking of Queen Elizabeth II with her distant predecessor and great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria. As the story goes, Victoria was much taken with the railways, invented and developed during her reign. She didn’t fancy too much speed, though, and demanded that any train she rode take a leisurely pace. Following her death in 1901, her royal remains were carried by train. Victoria’s son and successor, Edward VII, was concerned that the funeral train was running late and requested the crew to make more deliberate speed. Thus, Victoria’s last ride was a bit faster than she herself would have liked. Her majesty would probably be amazed by today’s railways, especially high-speed passenger service.
The loco ownership information is incorrect. The train was promoted by the Railway Touring Company. 60009 is owned by John Cameron who bought the loco from British Railways when it was withdrawn from service in 1966.
The Queen and Prince Phillip have been staying at Balmoral Castle not Holyroodhouse. They arrived for the dedication via helicopter and then in the State Limousine.
Impressive as this achievement is, the 30 mile Borders Railway is not “the biggest railway construction project in the United Kingdom in more than 100 years”. Whoever wrote that seems to have forgotten High Speed 1, 68 miles of modern railway opened in 2007 to form a direct link between London and the Channel Tunnel.
In October 1961, my wife Katie and I toured England, riding some 14-15 trains from London to Scotland and
back. Except for a few rail-car runs and an Edinburgh-Newcastle segment behind a then-new Deltic diesel.
all other trains were handled by steam, including an up train from York to London pulled all or most of the
way by A-4 #60009. What a fine run that great engine gave us! I also “hopped” a cab ride from Edinburgh’s
Haymarket Shed into the city on A-4 60031, “Golden Plover!” – Charles B. Castner, Louisville, KY.