The Railway of Kelso and Jedburgh branch lines was a 'network' of three distinct railway services serving Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

The first of these was a branch of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway, departing from a junction at Tweedmouth, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and initially terminating at Sprouston, two miles west of Kelso. This was opened in 1849.

The second line, opened in 1850, was a branch of the North British Railway which departed from the line for Hawick at St Boswells and initially terminated at a second temporary station just outside Kelso. After another year, in 1851, the gap between the two Kelso stations was closed and a permanent station at Kelso opened. The two companies, however, operated under competing managements and failed to develop a through service over the line.

Around five years later, in 1856, a further independent company, the Jedburgh Railway, opened its connection for Jedburgh. This branch departed from the Kelso line at the Roxburgh junction, around four miles to the south-west of Kelso.

Although woollen manufacture and shoe-making were important local industries, Kelso's economy was largely agricultural. From the 1930s onwards, transport policies increasingly pushed for road transportation over rail and, by the mid-twentieth century, goods and passenger carryings on the lines were being reduced. The Jedburgh line passenger service was closed in 1948. Passenger services on the other lines were heavily reduced in 1955 and withdrawn in 1964.

History

Background Kelso's industry was a little different to that of the other famous woollen towns of the borders; a writer in 1825 said:

Kelso, though not entitled to rank among the commercial towns of Scotland, has nevertheless a considerable trade... The first and principal branch is the dressing of lamb and sheep skins, the tanning of hides and the currying of leather, all which are carried on to a vast extent ... Pork is here cured to a great extent, which finds a ready sale in the English market. The manufacture of flannel is pretty extensive, as is also that of different kinds of linen. Woollen cloth is likewise made here but not in any great quantity... Boot and shoe-making is carried on upon a very large scale... disposing of immense quantities at the different fairs and markets in the north of England.James Haig, A Topographical and Historical Account of the Town of Kelso, John Fairbairn, Edinburgh, 1825

Jedburgh, with a population of 5,251 in 1821, was predominantly engaged in agriculture, although the manufacture of blankets and carpets was also significant, as well as there being an iron foundry and a manufacturer of printing presses.The New Statistical Account of Scotland, volume V, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1835

The location of the towns, remote from navigable water, made transport of products and raw materials difficult.

First railway authorisation

A railway connecting Kelso in Roxburghshire with Berwick-upon-Tweed, thereby providing the Scottish Borders with access to the North Sea and coastal shipping, was first seriously proposed in 1809. Authorisation for the projected Berwick and Kelso Railway was obtained in an act of Parliament, the (51 Geo. 3. c. cxxxiii), on 31 May 1811,Joseph Priestley, Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain, Longman Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1831 the first 'Northumbrian' line to obtain an authorising act of Parliament, and the first anywhere to refer to the conveyance of passengers in its act.W. W. Tomlinson, The North Eastern Railway: Its Rise and Development, Andrew Reid and Company, Limited, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1914, page 32 The intended terminus was to be Spittal, near Tweedmouth, which at that time was part of an enclave under the jurisdiction of County Durham. These early plans did not ultimately proceed and were formally abandoned in 1827. Local promoters again attempted to revive the scheme in 1836, with updated estimates for construction amounting to £100,000 for a 22 mile line. This too came to nothing,K Hoole, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 4: The North East, David and Charles, Dawlish, 1965 and the Berwick and Kelso Railway Company was dissolved in January 1838.

Main line railways The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened its main line in 1842, showing that a general railway could be successful, where in the past practically all railways had been involved with bringing coal or another mineral from its source. At the same time as the E&GR was being built, the English network seemed to be taking shape, and it was considered urgently necessary to determine the route that a line from central Scotland to England might take. For some time it was assumed that only a single railway route could be commercially viable, and great consideration was given to the route it might take. This was particularly significant because of the barrier of the Southern Uplands and the Cheviot Hills, both considered passable only with great difficulty.

A route put forward by G Remington was proposed to run from Edinburgh through Lauder, Kelso, Wooler and Morpeth to Newcastle; the line was to use the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, a horse-drawn line using stone block sleepers, for access to Edinburgh. A Government commission, the so-called Smith-Barlow Commission, examined this and numerous other routes, but Remington had not prepared estimates of cost for his line; it was said to require works of a most formidable character, and would cost so much that it could not conceivably pay. His scheme fell by the wayside.C J A Robertson, The Origins of the Scottish Railway System, 1722–1844, John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, 1983,

In fact the first main line between central Scotland and England was the North British Railway route, running from Edinburgh through Dunbar to Berwick, where it met the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. At first the line was not carried over the River Tweed and through passengers had to walk, or be conveyed by coach, across the road bridge.

While the North British Railway was building its main line, the Newcastle and Berwick Railway, authorised by the Newcastle and Berwick Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxiii) of 13 July 1845, with capital of £1,400,000, was building its line. Its prime objective was to further the chain of railways that was to form the East Coast route from London to Scotland; its main line was to be 65 miles in length, but there were to be several branches, for which powers were obtained in 1846, including a branch from Tweedmouth to Kelso. The Newcastle and Berwick Railway merged with the York and Newcastle Railway, becoming the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway on 9 August 1847.

The Newcastle and Berwick Railway completed its line between Tweedmouth and Newcastle on 1 July 1847.

Tweedmouth to Sprouston

Construction of the branch from Tweedmouth to Sprouston followed, and it opened as a double track on 27 July 1849.Roger Darsley and Dennis Lovett, Berwick to St Boswells via Kelso including the Jedburgh Branch, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 2015, Tomlinson Goods train operation seems to have started earlier.

The line followed the southern bank of the River Tweed as far as Sprouston. It had been intended to reach Kelso, another two miles, but hostility from the Duke of Roxburghe prevented this for the time being, so Sprouston became the station for Kelso.

The Berwick and Kelso Railway: This railway, a branch of the York, Newcastle and Berwick line was on Monday last (23 July 1849) examined by Capt. Wynne, the Inspector-General of Railways... The whole length of the line is 20¼ miles from Tweedmouth to the village of Sprouston, which is the Kelso terminus of the railway, though at a distance of between two and three miles from the town of Kelso. There are stations at Velvet Hall, Norham, Cornhill, Carham and Sprouston, from whence omnibuses are to run to Kelso in connection with each train... Goods trains have for several weeks been running between Tweedmouth and Sprouston, but the line is to be opened tomorrow [27 July 1849].Edinburgh Evening Post and Scottish Standard, 28 July 1849, reprinting an article from the Berwick Warder, 26 July 1849

At this stage the Royal Border Bridge crossing the River Tweed and connecting Berwick and Tweedmouth had not yet opened; it did so on 29 July 1850, to goods trains only at first. The junction at Tweedmouth faced the south, so that through trains from Berwick had to reverse there. Sprouston was regarded as a permanent terminus, and all facilities including an engine shed and turntable were provided there.

The initial train service was three trains daily each way, two on Sunday.

The Y&NBR stations at Carham and Sprouston and 3½ miles of track in their vicinity "were the only conquests ever made by an English company on Scottish soil".John Thomas, The North British Railway, volume 1, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969,

St Boswells to Kelso By the end of 1844, with their main line not yet open, the North British Railway were planning a branch line to Carlisle. This prodigious scheme was portrayed at first as simply a branch from near Edinburgh to Hawick, in itself a huge project, and a branch to Kelso was being discussed. The plans took shape and at a shareholders' meeting on 9 February 1846 a large collection of branches were approved, including a group from the Hawick line to Kelso, Jedburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, with share capital of £770,000. The North British Railway (Hawick Branch) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxiii) was secured on 26 June 1846. Tenders were accepted in early 1847.

The Kelso branch route was 12½ miles long from Kelso Junction at St Boswells; it ran for eight miles down the Tweed Valley before crossing the River Teviot on a high stone arch viaduct (Roxburgh Viaduct).

The line from St Boswells to Kelso opened on 17 June 1850,Ross, pages 34 and 239, says 7 June 1850, but this seems to be a mistake. but at first this was only to a temporary station at Wallace Nick (often spelt Wallacenick), about a mile west of Kelso.Henry Grote Lewin, The Railway Mania and its Aftermath, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, revised edition 1968, This too was due to the objections of the Duke of Roxburghe.

Closing the gap Two railways had tried to reach Kelso but were obliged to stop short: the York, Newcastle and Berwick RailwayThe York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway was the successor to the Newcastle and Berwick Railway, since a merger on 9 August 1847. In 1854 a further merger made the YN&BR part of the North Eastern Railway. branch from Tweedmouth at Sprouston, and the North British Railway branch from St Boswells at Wallace Nick.

An accommodation with the Duke of Roxburghe seems to have been made, and the two railways worked together to close the gap. In fact they met half way, by an end-on junction at Mellendean Farm, east of Kelso. There was no station or other facility there. The North British built the new Kelso station, but this was in a district of Kelso called Maxwellheugh, inconveniently located south of the River Tweed. The new railway opened between Wallace Nick and Sprouston on 1 June 1851, and Wallace Nick station closed.1 June 1851 seems to be the consensus. Dissenters are Thomas (volume 1 page 239): Wallacenick to Maxwellheugh 1 January 1851; Ross (page 239): Wallacenick to Maxwellheugh 7 January 1851; Darsley and Lovett (caption to picture 59): the North Eastern (sic) "did not reach the town until 27th January 1851"; also (caption to map XVIII) Wallacenick to Sprouston opened 27 July 1851; Lewin (page 522): NBR to Maxwellheugh 27 January 1851; Maxwellheugh to Sprouston NBR and YN&BR 1 June 1851; and Quick (page 168), quoting Grevill: 27 January 1851.M D Grevill, Temporary Stations, in Railway and Canal Historical Society Journal, volume 4, no 6, November 1958