1
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,240
Britain's railways were once
the envy of the world.

2
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:11,760
You could get a train
from almost anywhere...

3
00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,000
..to almost anywhere else!

4
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,160
They were the network that supported
an industrial superpower...

5
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:22,560
And here we go!

6
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,520
EXPLOSION
Oh, ho!

7
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,240
I've never seen anything like that!

8
00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:35,440
..but, today, 4,000 stations
and 8,000 miles of track lie silent.

9
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:38,040
This station feels truly lost.

10
00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,680
So I'm setting off to discover more
of Britain's lost railways.

11
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,720
Wow! This is something else!

12
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,080
They tell a story...

13
00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:54,120
Look at this!

14
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:56,040
..of how we once lived...

15
00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,280
Oh, I love that!

16
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,160
..and how we once worked...

17
00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,760
This is one heck of a piece
of engineering!

18
00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:08,840
..and they help reveal how our
world has changed today.

19
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,040
Yahoo-oo!

20
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,480
This time, I'm in Edinburgh...

21
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,000
..and, like many of the
four million people

22
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,520
who visit this great city every
year,

23
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,400
I got here by train.

24
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:38,400
The East Coast Railway

25
00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:39,840
from London to Edinburgh

26
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,200
is one of the backbones

27
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:42,520
of our modern network.

28
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:50,080
But, little more than 50 years ago,
there was an alternative -

29
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,880
a railway that stretched south,
beyond those hills,

30
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,480
through the heart of the glorious
Scottish Borders.

31
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,960
The railway I've come to explore

32
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,840
was called the Waverley Route.

33
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,200
It ran for almost exactly 100 miles
across the border to Carlisle,

34
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:11,680
where it connected with the

35
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:13,160
West Coast route to London.

36
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:20,600
The Waverley Route closed in 1969
and there was uproar.

37
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,440
It turned the big towns
of the Scottish Borders

38
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,760
into the most isolated
in the country.

39
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,920
But, for those that live here,
the railway's memory is cherished.

40
00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:37,360
MEN: One, two three!

41
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,120
The Waverley Route is
far from forgotten.

42
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,360
An exciting thing about this lost
line

43
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,800
is that it might just come back.

44
00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,680
There's a real effort going on in
these parts

45
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,400
to re-establish the old
Waverley Route.

46
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,000
In fact, part of it has already
been reopened.

47
00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:58,560
OK...

48
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,720
Ha! Here's the proof.

49
00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,400
TANNOY CHIMES

50
00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:04,560
Only got a few minutes
before my train leaves.

51
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:06,280
Best get going!

52
00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,240
The first part of my journey
is along a lost line...

53
00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:13,440
..that's been found again.

54
00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:22,280
At 30 miles, it covers less than a
third of the old Waverley Route,

55
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,280
but it's the longest stretch of
British railway

56
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,200
to be opened in over a century.

57
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,240
So we're now just starting to
branch off right from the main line,

58
00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,000
heading south onto our line.

59
00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:42,240
The new Borders Railway reaches all
the way to the Tweed Valley.

60
00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,720
It follows the old Waverley
route almost perfectly,

61
00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,120
which has proved very useful
at places like Eskbank,

62
00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,400
eight miles out of Edinburgh.

63
00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,400
Just south of the station,

64
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:05,040
I've come to see one of the standout
features of the Victorian railway,

65
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,800
and it's where I'm meeting
engineer Hugh Wark...

66
00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:10,080
How many arches along here?

67
00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,400
23 arches, yeah. 23 arches along?!

68
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,240
..the project director on the
new Borders Railway.

69
00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,680
Well, this is magnificent, isn't it?
It's beautiful.

70
00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:22,640
This is Newbattle Viaduct.

71
00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,680
It was built for the line opening
in 1849 by John Miller,

72
00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,880
who was the engineer for the line.

73
00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:36,080
It's got 23 arches and this is the
tallest one in front of us, 54 feet,

74
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,800
specially strengthened because of
its position in the river.

75
00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:44,000
When the bridge was built, the piers
were actually hollow.

76
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,960
You could see
through the middle of them.

77
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,600
You can see the arch in the
middle of the pier. In here, yeah!

78
00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,600
These were in-filled
at some time in the past

79
00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:54,400
as part of strengthening work.

80
00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:00,440
You can see the metal strengthening,
which is actually old railway rails.

81
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,680
That's a traditional way of
strengthening bridges in the past.

82
00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:09,800
You use old rail?
Old railway bullhead rails, yes.

83
00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:11,600
I never knew that. That's beautiful!

84
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:19,160
The Newbattle Viaduct was once
described by Queen Victoria as
"very fine"...

85
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:22,160
..and who could disagree?

86
00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:26,720
How much work did you
need to do on this viaduct here

87
00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,360
to make it suitable to be reopened?

88
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,920
Well, you know, Rob, it was in
remarkably good condition -

89
00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,920
considering it had been
shut for almost 50 years

90
00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,720
and nothing had been done to it
in that period of time.

91
00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,160
All we really had to do
was basic masonry repairs,

92
00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,040
pointing work to fill in gaps.

93
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,720
And, you know, one of the reasons
why it was in such good condition

94
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:52,240
was that, sometime in the past,
probably during the 1940s or '50s,

95
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,000
there was a new concrete deck
placed on top of the bridge,

96
00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,920
and that's stopped the water
percolating into the stonework

97
00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,000
and prevented a lot of
deterioration in the structure.

98
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,440
Is there something about
the way the Victorians

99
00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,360
did their civil engineering that has
made it last so long?

100
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,840
Well, they obviously used
pretty good materials.

101
00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:16,400
It was good sandstone
and it's been well-constructed.

102
00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:21,160
There's no doubt, if that Victorian
infrastructure hadn't been there,

103
00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,680
we wouldn't have been able to build
a new railway into the Borders.

104
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,600
But Hugh and his team
didn't always have it so easy.

105
00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,640
Over two years,
they built seven new stations.

106
00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:40,720
42 new bridges.

107
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,120
They laid 100,000 sleepers

108
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,640
and over 1,000 new rails.

109
00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:55,360
In total, the line cost almost
£12 million per mile to resurrect

110
00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,760
and one of the biggest challenges

111
00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,000
was just 500 yards north
of the great Victorian viaduct.

112
00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,240
Well, this is the A7, a major route
from Edinburgh to the Borders.

113
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,160
This section of it was built
in the 1980s.

114
00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,640
Of course, they bulldozed
the old railway away,

115
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:23,800
which crossed right across
the line of the road,

116
00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:25,680
so we had to build this new bridge.

117
00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:27,720
Just what did it take to build it?

118
00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,480
You can see it's got two spans.

119
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:34,320
Each span's made up of
two U-shaped concrete beams.

120
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:36,360
Each one's over 100 tonnes.

121
00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,280
They were cast in Ireland

122
00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,360
and brought over here in
huge transporter vehicles,

123
00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,320
so a 1,200-tonne road mobile crane,
one of the biggest in the UK,

124
00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:48,000
could lift them into position.

125
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,560
You don't have any idea, when you're
riding that train,

126
00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,320
how much work
it takes to achieve this.

127
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,000
Oh, here we go, here's one now.

128
00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:58,800
This was a huge
construction project.

129
00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,520
It's fairly major engineering, yes.

130
00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,720
Are you proud with what
you've achieved here?

131
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:07,000
It's a great achievement and it
symbolises the rebirth of the line.

132
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,240
TRAIN HORN SOUNDS

133
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,800
Coming up, I reach
the stunning valley...

134
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:19,520
Look at this!

135
00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:24,000
..that was home to Scotland's
greatest writer, Walter Scott.

136
00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,800
And I find a remote station...

137
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,160
Oh, yeah.

138
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:29,880
..with a quite unique footbridge.

139
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:31,040
Oh, my word!

140
00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:42,320
This early part of my journey isn't
so much about a lost railway,

141
00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,040
more one that's been rediscovered.

142
00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:49,600
For more than a century, until 1969,

143
00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:51,040
the Waverley Route ran

144
00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,320
right across the Scottish Borders,

145
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,440
from Edinburgh to Carlisle.

146
00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,600
But four years ago, the northern
part of the old line returned.

147
00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,320
It is my very happy duty

148
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,040
to declare the Borders Railway open.

149
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,120
In September 2015,
the Queen was here

150
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,920
to open the longest new railway
in over a century.

151
00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,960
And what an incredible
stretch of railway it is.

152
00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,960
Ten miles outside Edinburgh,
the line starts a long climb

153
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,160
that peaks at almost 900 feet.

154
00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,480
Today, this diesel engine
makes easy work of it,

155
00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,200
but, back in the
early days of this line,

156
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:38,120
the steam engines would have
been puffing hard up here.

157
00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:39,600
TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

158
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,240
But the reward for
climbing so far

159
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,760
is a glorious downhill run,

160
00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:51,200
where the line crosses the twisting
Gala Water river 15 times.

161
00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:59,360
That's 15 bridges for this
relatively small stretch of this
line.

162
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,200
With landscape like this
to deal with,

163
00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,880
the Waverley was never the fastest
route between London and Edinburgh,

164
00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:14,240
but reach London it did,
unlike today.

165
00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,240
TANNOY: This train will shortly
be approaching Tweedbank,

166
00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,920
which is the last and final stop.

167
00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,720
Here we go, just crossed
the River Tweed,

168
00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:27,440
which means that my train journey
for this line is almost at an end.

169
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,240
Having passed through Galashiels,

170
00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,160
the brand-new line terminates

171
00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,520
at what was, until
very recently, a field.

172
00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,000
But the end of the line is where
I'm meeting one of the locals,

173
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,080
who worked for years
to make it a reality.

174
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,160
Oh, Simon. Hi, Rob.
Good to meet you.

175
00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:52,800
The pleasure's mine, Rob.

176
00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,360
I have to say, that is quite a
spectacular journey.

177
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,120
I'm glad you enjoyed it. And it's
brought me here, to Tweedbank.

178
00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,760
Kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Well, I'm glad you said that.

179
00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:02,200
Yeah, I'm being a bit facetious.

180
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,160
This point was as far from Edinburgh

181
00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,960
as the authorities would
dare build the new line,

182
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,840
but did they need to be so cautious?

183
00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,720
How successful has the
line been, then? Fantastic.

184
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,600
So, the first three years, four
million people have used this line -

185
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,920
that's more than twice the
expected number.

186
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:24,160
Wow! Yeah. It's opened up the
Borders to the City of Edinburgh.

187
00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,160
You know, so the second-biggest
tourist market in Britain

188
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,160
is now less than an hour away
from the centre of the Borders,

189
00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,000
so that's bringing
a lot of people in here.

190
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,360
So there's this lovely balance.

191
00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,000
You've got commuters from the
Borders heading into Edinburgh,

192
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,600
say, in the morning, then you've
got the tourists heading out,

193
00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,080
and then they switch back at the
end of the day! Absolutely.

194
00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:42,800
How does it make you feel,
personally,

195
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,960
to feel the success
that this line has brought?

196
00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:46,640
Yeah, can you see my chest swelling?

197
00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:48,280
I'm really proud to have been
involved.

198
00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:52,040
If the railway was extended further,

199
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:56,520
it would continue south along
what's currently just a footpath,

200
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,600
and that's becoming
more and more likely.

201
00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:00,920
Just this year,

202
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:02,680
the Government has backed a study

203
00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,280
assessing whether the entire
Waverley Route could be reopened.

204
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,280
We consider this Phase 1.
You're quite hopeful, are you?

205
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,840
I'd say that we're closer
to getting that ambition now
than we ever have been.

206
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,880
It makes perfect sense to make it
into a through line.

207
00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,120
Railways are all about
bringing people together.

208
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,320
It doesn't so much matter that
there are longer stretches

209
00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:24,840
with fewer people living there.

210
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,440
The whole point of the railways
is to bring people together

211
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,120
and give them those opportunities,

212
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,160
and that's really where this line
makes perfect sense. Brilliant.

213
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,560
So, tell me, what can I expect on my
journey down to Carlisle, then,

214
00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,160
walking the old line there?
Oh, there's so much more to see.

215
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,040
You're going to see some beautiful
towns, in some beautiful settings,

216
00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,040
you're going to see some
spectacular scenery.

217
00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,520
I sometimes think of it as
the Highlands in the Lowlands,

218
00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:47,920
that's what you're gonna see.

219
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:49,680
Very, very nice. You get a taste of
that

220
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,480
on the way out from Edinburgh
already. There's even more to come.

221
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,080
Listen, Simon, thank you so much.

222
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:55,920
Congratulations with what you've
achieved

223
00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,720
and the very best of luck
for the rest of it.

224
00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,920
Thanks so much, Rob,
really enjoy yourself.

225
00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,360
You've set me on my way,
I'm skipping away! Bye-bye, now!

226
00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,840
Well, this feels a bit more like
familiar territory for me.

227
00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,840
These long, flat, straight lines,

228
00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:23,320
and the railway line itself

229
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,400
ran pretty much where
the road is here today,

230
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,000
which is just one of the challenges
that would need to be overcome

231
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,040
should the line be
extended any further.

232
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,720
If that did happen,

233
00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,960
the old station at Melrose
would be ready and waiting.

234
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:48,520
For now, it enjoys a great view
of the town's bypass.

235
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,040
It always makes me smile when I come
across a disused railway station,

236
00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,320
especially when they're
still so recognisable as such.

237
00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,880
Melrose was never a big place,

238
00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,000
but it had a very fine station,

239
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,040
bringing visitors to one of
Scotland's great rivers.

240
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,680
The Tweed Valley is where Scotland's
greatest writer, Sir Walter Scott,

241
00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:19,160
chose to settle,

242
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:23,760
and it was his Waverley novels that
gave my lost railway its name.

243
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,880
Just look at this!

244
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,920
We often think of Scottish
landscapes as great lochs
and rugged mountains,

245
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:35,240
but the more gentle terrain of the
Borders is pretty special, too.

246
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,480
Walter Scott lived just a
couple of miles from here

247
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,200
and you can see why.

248
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,760
The Waverley Route didn't linger
in this valley long, though.

249
00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,800
South of the Tweed, the old line
crosses acre after acre of fields.

250
00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:01,200
For 12 miles or so, there's
no town or village to be found...

251
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,440
..but there was another station.

252
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,040
Oh, yes.

253
00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,680
Oh, yes! This is lovely!

254
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,080
Wow.

255
00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:21,920
Hassendean Station.

256
00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,400
Not exactly what I was expecting.
This is gorgeous!

257
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,080
I could poke around here all day!

258
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:38,480
For 120 years, trains came through
here to and from Edinburgh.

259
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,320
Those that stopped were often
serving

260
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,320
the farming needs of the
local Earl of Minto.

261
00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,960
But Hassendean is now the home of
architect Tom Pyemont.

262
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,720
This is marvellous!
I've entered a whole separate world,
coming into here. Isn't it great?

263
00:15:57,720 --> 00:15:59,640
We bought it back in the late '80s.

264
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,280
My background is
conservation architecture,

265
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,120
and driving past this group of
buildings which looked all sad,

266
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,680
and we eventually bought them,

267
00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,600
and then decided to renovate it
and live here.

268
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,640
How derelict was it? Very.

269
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:14,360
The windows were all broken

270
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,800
and, of course, there was no
electricity or water.

271
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,320
The platform either side,
we've in-filled

272
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,840
because all the ballast was taken
away and it was quite a drop.

273
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,720
This is the edge of the platform
here, isn't it? Same over there.

274
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,200
The steam engines would have
come in right through here.

275
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,040
What were the original
station features, then,

276
00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:33,440
that were here still?

277
00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,240
There was very little actually left
when we arrived.

278
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,920
One of the major things was this
canopy of the waiting room,

279
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,120
which actually had
progressive deflection

280
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,360
and it was bending right down.
Oh, really? Yeah.

281
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,280
So we managed to get some cast iron
columns from one of the mills

282
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,160
in Hawick that was being demolished,

283
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,880
just to prop it up, and they
looked so good that we kept them!

284
00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:54,760
We managed to get the cast iron
guttering, as well,

285
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,320
from a place in Newcastle

286
00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,720
that specialises in railway-style
cast iron guttering.

287
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,040
They look great! I mean, it looks...

288
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,440
I mean, I'd be convinced
that this is how it always was.

289
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,760
The centrepiece of the project has
undoubtedly been

290
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,320
the restoration of
Hassendean's footbridge.

291
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,400
The only wooden footbridge of its
type left in situ.

292
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:28,200
Oh, yeah! I mean, there's a
decent view down there, but...

293
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,800
Pretty good. ..up here. Oh, my
word!

294
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,600
So, I've got the real clear line of
the old railway route,

295
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,840
you can see where it came in, along
here, from Edinburgh this way,

296
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:47,720
and then heading out down towards
Carlisle that way. That's right.

297
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,040
But otherwise, apart from
that, there's...

298
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:51,720
..there's nothing around here!

299
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:53,920
Not a lot, no.
It's mainly agriculture.

300
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:55,480
That's Minto Hill up there...

301
00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:58,920
..and Minto Village is just round
the corner,

302
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:00,200
the other side of Minto Hill,

303
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,200
so the agriculture we brought
to Hassendean Station.

304
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,440
But despite most of the station's
business being farm-related,

305
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,960
there was the occasional
VIP traveller.

306
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,720
I've got a cutting of when Princess
Margaret came through here

307
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,080
in the early '50s, about 1954, I
think,

308
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,600
and she was met by the son of the
Earl and Countess of Minto.

309
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,840
That's him there, is it? That's him
there, that's the son, and that's
obviously Princess Margaret...

310
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,160
Indeed. ..and she was quite a
regular visitor at the Minto estate.

311
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,560
Very nice. Bit of country pursuits.

312
00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,040
There is a very strong movement to
extend the line even further,

313
00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:37,760
from Tweedbank right through here.

314
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:39,360
What would that mean for you?

315
00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:41,720
It'd mess up the garden,
seriously, but...

316
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,760
THEY LAUGH
Quite frankly, it should come back.

317
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,600
It should never have gone in the
first place. You think? No, no, no.

318
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,520
So you might be able to keep your
house,

319
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,520
just maybe not your garden.
SIMON LAUGHS

320
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,520
Keep the house and watch the trains.

321
00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:54,680
Oh, blissful.

322
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:02,000
Coming up, I find the centre of
the world's cashmere industry...

323
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,160
You can hear it, you can smell it!

324
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,240
..and see how the railway created

325
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,800
one of the Great War's biggest
prisoner-of-war camps.

326
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,920
The camp just unfolds
in front of you. Oh!

327
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,440
There's miles and miles of
countryside behind me,

328
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,400
but not here.
I've reached the town of Hawick.

329
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,120
Following the old Waverley Route,

330
00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:36,560
I'm reaching the halfway point
between Edinburgh and Carlisle.

331
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,760
Great railway connections helped
turn Hawick

332
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,960
into the largest town
in the Scottish borders -

333
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,360
that and a very special
local industry.

334
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,920
Way back in the 1600s,

335
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,280
there would have been folk here
producing cloth and clothing

336
00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,440
from the rough local wool.

337
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,760
Two centuries later,

338
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:06,880
that cottage industry
had turned into 50 textile mills

339
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,000
on the banks of the River Teviot.

340
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,320
And, from 1862,

341
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,440
the Waverley Route was bringing in
thousands of tonnes of coal

342
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,200
to keep the steam-powered
factories working.

343
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:24,000
It also carried Hawick's
famous raw material,

344
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:30,200
cashmere, a luxury wool
brought all the way from Mongolia.

345
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:36,960
Believe it or not, Hollywood
A-listers like Grace Kelly

346
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,720
wore jumpers and cardigans
made in mills just like this one.

347
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,840
This used to be the home of Pringle.

348
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,800
In the '50s and '60s, Hawick
fashion dressed the rich and famous,

349
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,280
but most of that industry
has now left town.

350
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,720
Pringle became known as a golf brand

351
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,360
and is now thousands of miles away -
under Chinese ownership.

352
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,520
But there are still
cashmere mills in town

353
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,920
and the small independent
producers left have stayed true

354
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:17,080
to Hawick's tradition of producing
the finest knitwear available.

355
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:20,720
Hello. Hiya.

356
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,400
I'm here to see Jerry, is he about
at all?

357
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,920
I'll just go and get him for you.
Thanks very much.

358
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,960
Can I have a little mooch,
whilst...?

359
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:28,920
Yes, you can, no problem. Thank
you.

360
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:33,440
This site can trace it's
cashmere-producing

361
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,600
origins back to 1874.

362
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,520
It's all very nice, very tactile.

363
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,080
It might surprise you that
I'm not actually that used to

364
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:49,040
spending time in luxury fashion
retail outlets like this...

365
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:51,600
..but I kinda like it.

366
00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:01,840
Jerry Graham, meanwhile, has worked
in this industry since he was 15.

367
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:04,800
Can I ask how much one of these
sweaters might go for?

368
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,160
Well, if you'd like to spend
anything from about £200, £300,

369
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,240
up about £1,500, £2,000,
if you wish.

370
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,680
Ah! I'll tell you
straight away, Jerry,

371
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,360
this sweater I'm wearing now cost
nowhere near that, but...

372
00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,240
Yeah, go on.
Yeah. I can tell!

373
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,640
..but I guess it comes back
to the old adage, right?

374
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,800
You get what you pay for.
That's correct, yes.

375
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,000
This company only has a few outlets

376
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,160
and they're all in top-end
locations around the world.

377
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:39,560
But there's only one where
you can step backstage

378
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,000
and see the mill itself.

379
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,600
There's a lovely change
in tone back here.

380
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,120
You can hear it, you can smell it.

381
00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,080
The buzz. There's something
happening back here, it is exciting.

382
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,760
What have we got here? This is the
yarn, the raw yarn that comes in.

383
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:01,840
This is cashmere. OK.

384
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,880
This comes from goats
in Outer Mongolia,

385
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,600
which is where you get
the best quality.

386
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,560
It's lovely and soft, that. Yep.

387
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,600
Each cone comes in at
about 2.5 kilos in weight

388
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:18,000
and the yarn costs
about £150 to £180 per kilo,

389
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,480
so you can just imagine the value.

390
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,400
The value of that box, there?
Alone, yes.

391
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,760
With an average man's sweater
needing three miles of yarn,

392
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,120
you can see how the costs in
cashmere alone stack up.

393
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,080
Right, Rob, this is the new
technology

394
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,840
for the garments that
are all knitted in one piece.

395
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,080
You'll probably... Your granny
will probably remember knitting

396
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,280
a garment - a front, a back,
and two sleeves.

397
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,600
Yeah, patterns! You followed
patterns. Yeah, but here

398
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,040
they're all knitted in one piece,

399
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,200
so there's no seams at all
in the garment.

400
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,240
It all comes out in one.

401
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,720
What? But surely there's a
front and then a back,

402
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,600
and then they go together?
It's all one piece. The whole thing?

403
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,920
The whole thing comes out in one,
I'll show you after.

404
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:02,880
This has come out of one of these
machines?

405
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,080
This is coming from that
machine there, yeah.

406
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:07,680
There's no seams or stitching.
No, not a thing.

407
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,520
That's just patterning...
That's patterning to make it...

408
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:11,960
Well, it is fully fashioned.

409
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,400
It's fully fashioned knitwear.

410
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,040
On that one there's a collar
attached as well.

411
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,720
You could almost wear that now.

412
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,680
There are 24 of these machines at
the Hawico mill.

413
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:30,760
Details like buttons and pockets
still need to be added by hand,

414
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,640
and, between them, they produce
60,000 garments a year.

415
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,280
How important was the railway
to the industry here?

416
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,320
There used to be a train came
through from Edinburgh to London

417
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:44,640
at night-time,

418
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,920
and a lot of the factories would
put their merchandise on that train

419
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,560
and it would be arriving
in London the next day. Wow.

420
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:52,800
Thank you so much for
showing me around. No problem.

421
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,600
I better do something about this
sweater, eh? Good idea.

422
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,320
Leaving Hawick, trains on the
Waverley Route

423
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,960
now entered the
remotest stretch of the line.

424
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,800
For almost 20 miles,

425
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,960
the railway beat a path through
hills to the border with England.

426
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,880
And it's here that the
most intriguing

427
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,000
Waverley Route story can be found.

428
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,000
I know there's a station
near here somewhere,

429
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,040
just need to try and get
back up on the line here.

430
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,480
Let's try up there.

431
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,400
In the midst of this wilderness,

432
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,280
a Borders estate called Stobs
had a lonely station.

433
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,200
Ah, here we go.

434
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,000
So this is Stobs station,
the old Stobs station.

435
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,320
I'm right back on the line here now.

436
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,920
Look, there's the platforms
on each side.

437
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,600
This is absolutely lovely.

438
00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,680
The station in complete disrepair,

439
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,600
there's been no
refurbishment gone on here.

440
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,080
It's a real relic of the old
Waverley line.

441
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:20,720
It's really lovely seeing some of
this old station infrastructure

442
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,120
in place still, this broken-down old
bridge.

443
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,200
Just listen to that.
BIRDS TWEETING

444
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:37,840
Almost silence.

445
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,320
It's yet another station along the
Waverley line

446
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,520
that's seemingly
in the middle of nowhere,

447
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:44,200
but, as I understand,

448
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,760
this station had a huge historical
significance to the area.

449
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:56,480
The landscape here changed in 1902,

450
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,560
when the government purchased
3,500 acres

451
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,320
as a training base
for the British Army.

452
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,680
But when the Great War started
the following decade,

453
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,480
the training gave way to
imprisonment.

454
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:17,000
Hello. Hi.

455
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:18,680
Ian, is it? Hi, Rob.

456
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,880
Welcome to Stobs.
Thank you very much!

457
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,200
It's a little nippy up here.
And a bit bleak.

458
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:28,800
From 1914, thousands of German
prisoners were brought here -

459
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,120
to what became one of the
largest prisoner-of-war camps

460
00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:33,560
of the First World War.

461
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,640
This is quite a reveal, isn't it?

462
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,320
You just come over the hillside
here and the camp just unfolds
in front of you. Oh.

463
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,280
Even though there's not much
ahead of us here,

464
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:49,080
it's quite clear there was something
quite big here at some point. Yep.

465
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,280
We're looking across at
the hillside there.

466
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,960
The main features we can see
and the most important one is

467
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:58,440
a surviving example of a
First World War prisoner-of-war hut.

468
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,640
If you imagine,
there was a total of 80 huts

469
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:04,600
stretching right
across the hillside,

470
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:06,960
housing up to 5,000
prisoners of war.

471
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,320
Wow. Gives you an idea of the scale.

472
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,160
Here, in total isolation,

473
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,360
such a massive population
could be hidden away,

474
00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:24,600
with virtually no chance of escape.

475
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,520
But it was the proximity of the
railway that made it possible,

476
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,480
with thousands arriving by train

477
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,520
to be marched the short distance
from Stobs station.

478
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,920
We believe that this building is
the camp post office

479
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,120
and one of the features that
identifies it

480
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,440
is the telegraph pole
that we can see on top.

481
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,720
Just on the end here?
Just on the end here.

482
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,120
So even a prisoner-of-war camp had
communication to the outside world?

483
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,520
They were allowed to send quite a
few postcards and letters a week

484
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,000
back to their family and friends
in Germany.

485
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:07,280
They had gymnastic clubs, they had
craftwork, they had a library,

486
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:12,920
a camp orchestra, they also had
dramatic plays and musical events.

487
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,440
Inside the camp, at least,
prisoners enjoyed relative freedom.

488
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,120
Streets were named after
their military leaders

489
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,920
and the German Kaiser's birthday
was celebrated.

490
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,560
And here we have a very
interesting article here,

491
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,600
which is a certificate for a sports
fest

492
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,280
that was actually held
within the camp.

493
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:36,800
Here we are. "Sportfest."

494
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,480
Got a very nicely hand-drawn
certificate. Wow!

495
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,920
This we know was produced here,
at Stobs Camp?

496
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,240
And produced
by the prisoners in the camp.

497
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,280
Sounds like it was run
almost like a small town.

498
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,800
Just about, yeah.
It covered all aspects of life.

499
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:54,880
In the war's early stages,

500
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,840
most of the prisoners at Stobs Camp
were German civilians,

501
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,400
guilty of nothing more
than living in Britain

502
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,240
as the two countries went to war.

503
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,200
But, as fighting intensified,

504
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,520
soldiers captured right across the
world were brought here,

505
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,720
to the borders, to the spend the
rest of the war at Stobs.

506
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:18,080
George Stalman was a sailor
on the Gneisenau

507
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,840
that was sunk at the
Battle of the Falklands in 1914,

508
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,800
and he was brought
back to Britain, to Stobs,

509
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,400
and this is a letter sent
back to his brother.

510
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,000
"My dear Hans,

511
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,280
"I would have written
to you earlier if we had
full freedom of writing,

512
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:35,840
"but in this limited operation
it is not possible.

513
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:37,440
"Now it's your 20th birthday.

514
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,800
Maybe you are still at home,
maybe you are in the Kaiser's rock."

515
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,360
That was a slang for
Kaiser's uniform.

516
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,080
"Should that be the case,
then you must too soon go out
to defend your dear Fatherland."

517
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,560
So even here he was
still quite patriotic.

518
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,080
Oh, wow. So these are the bits that
have all just been scribbled out

519
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,600
and that would have been done by
the British. By the British censors.

520
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,120
If they've allowed that part,

521
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,520
just wonder what was written there
that they've scored it out.

522
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,640
That's an interesting part.
I would love to know.

523
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,240
We know some prisoners
of war were held here during
the Second World War,

524
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,720
when Stobs was also being
used as a secret training base

525
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,320
for operations like D-Day.

526
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:26,160
Ian and his team hope to investigate
the events of the 1940s soon

527
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,960
and reveal more secrets
of this remarkable site.

528
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:34,960
Coming up...

529
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:36,480
One, two, three and you lift.

530
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,520
..I meet the team who've
built a railway by hand...

531
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,920
It's all manhandled
and it weighs a tonne.

532
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:43,800
..and I cross the border...

533
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,720
Now I'm in England!

534
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,520
..to reach the end of the
Waverley Route at Carlisle Station.

535
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,800
What a magnificent structure it is.

536
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,640
Edinburgh to Carlisle,

537
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,800
I'm exploring the railway line that
once crossed the Scottish Borders.

538
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:10,800
11 miles from England,

539
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,320
I'm reaching the highest spot on
the old Waverley Route.

540
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,640
Whitrope Summit is
brilliantly isolated,

541
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,200
but there's a platform,

542
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:32,480
several carriages,
and even the odd locomotive.

543
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,880
It's the home of the Waverley Route
Heritage Association.

544
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,240
Hi! I'm Rob. Hello.
Welcome to Whitrope Siding.

545
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,080
I'm Bill... Hello, Bill.
..and this is Jim.

546
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,240
Hi, Jim, how are you doing?
Fine, thanks, Rob.

547
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,080
This is a very pleasant discovery,

548
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,080
to see that we've got some track
and some locomotives here.

549
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,840
And are we, exactly, on the route
of the old Waverley line here? Yes.

550
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,240
Where I'm standing, this is the
upline, this is going up to London,

551
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,080
and that's the down line
and you go to Edinburgh.

552
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,320
So why here? Why did you guys
decide to set this up here?

553
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,520
There wasn't actually a
station up here, ever? No.

554
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,800
The schoolchildren would get picked
up on the goods train in the morning

555
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:10,440
and taken to Hawick High School...

556
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,560
..would stop and they'd have
a little ladder

557
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,160
that you could
just climb up and down.

558
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,600
I love that.

559
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:24,000
Bill, Jim and their friends
so loved the old line

560
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,880
that they've done whatever they can
to keep its memory alive...

561
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:33,360
..including the relaying
of a very short section of track.

562
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,320
How easy was that to do? Not very!

563
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:38,720
MEN: One, two, three!

564
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:44,120
Rail by rail, weekend after weekend,

565
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:48,960
members of the association have
been laying track since 2002.

566
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,520
So you were laying all this
by hand, were you?

567
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,440
We had very little mechanical
assistance.

568
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:55,760
We just got enough bodies.

569
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,640
If you got enough bodies,
it was quite light.

570
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,080
MEN: One, two three! Easy!

571
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,840
Whoa, whoa, whoa!

572
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:06,120
Each length of the track is
60 foot and it weighs a tonne.

573
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,160
So it's all manhandled -
one, two, three and you lift.

574
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:15,400
I bet you felt that after a
long day out here, didn't you?
Aye. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

575
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:20,680
But, for the last seven years,
the hard work has paid off

576
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,360
and the railway has been
open to passengers

577
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,240
one weekend a month,
from spring to autumn.

578
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,560
What are my chances of getting a
little ride here today, do we think?

579
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:33,160
We'll take you down to the rail pass

580
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,320
and you can have a ride on the rail
pass.

581
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:36,720
If we can do that, I'd love to.

582
00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:39,160
At just 800 metres,

583
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:43,360
this may just be the shortest
heritage line I've ever ridden on.

584
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,080
And, instead of steam,

585
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:50,040
the ride here is on board a
wonderful 1980s experiment.

586
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,480
A British Rail rail bus.

587
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,640
We're in! And this is Alan, he's
going to be driving. Hello, Alan!

588
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:58,320
I'm Rob. Pleased to meet you, Rob.

589
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,640
This is, quite literally, a bus
adapted to run on rails.

590
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,160
In 1984, it could have been the
future of rural railways.

591
00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:12,880
Rail buses were cheap to build,

592
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:14,280
cheap to run,

593
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:20,520
and, just like a bus, the driver
could also be the ticket inspector.

594
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,000
I just love watching
what you're doing here.

595
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,200
It takes a few minutes for the
pressure to build

596
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,040
before I can
release the brake... Gotcha.

597
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:29,680
..and then we can move forward.

598
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,920
This is a diesel engine, then,
are we in here? Yes, it is. Yes.

599
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:38,440
British Rail had plans to sell this
prototype in Europe and America.

600
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,760
Here we go, we've got some
movement on dials. It's beginning
to come down now, yes.

601
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,080
That's pressure coming up, is it?
Yep, this is it.

602
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,160
You'll hear a click...

603
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,680
AIR HISSES
That's it. Oh, ho!

604
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:48,760
And here we go...

605
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,000
ENGINE RUMBLES

606
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,640
Give it some. Bit of traction.

607
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,320
Give it some muscle.

608
00:35:55,320 --> 00:36:00,760
Problem was, rail buses were
notoriously noisy and uncomfortable,

609
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,480
and this particular prototype
remained one-of-a-kind.

610
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:06,800
And we're away.

611
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,600
We are climbing here, actually,
aren't we? We are, yeah.

612
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:13,760
Up towards the summit.
Yes, it's 175 here. Wow.

613
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:21,400
Alan, do you remember the old
Waverley line railway?

614
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:22,800
Well, yes.

615
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,600
I was travelling on the train every
day to Edinburgh from Hawick,

616
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,600
and my wife and I came back from
our honeymoon

617
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,680
to find the notice of
closure on the platform.

618
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,640
You are kidding? So you didn't
know it was going to happen? No.

619
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,360
So you got quite upset then,
I'd imagine. Well, I was.

620
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:41,640
Really spoilt things.

621
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,920
Alan's taking me all of 500 yards,

622
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,320
to the northern end
of the restored track,

623
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:51,320
where the chaps are keen to show me

624
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,320
one of the Waverley Route's
engineering landmarks.

625
00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:57,760
I'm applying brakes now

626
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,840
to slow us down as we approach
the tunnel, you see. Breeze in.

627
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:03,720
Now here we are. That's us.

628
00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:06,400
So a short little trip,
but a trip all the same. Yep.

629
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,080
HISS OF AIR

630
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,040
That puts the train brake on,
so we're all right to move now.

631
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,240
We're safe? We're safe now.
Can we jump down? Yes.

632
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,960
ROB GRUNTS

633
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,840
You need your porridge!
I do need my porridge, too right!

634
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:24,760
Lacking a bit of strength!

635
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:30,760
We've come to take a look at the
fourth longest tunnel in Scotland.

636
00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:35,600
Back in the day,

637
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,880
passengers on the Waverley would
have climbed in the darkness

638
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:41,760
for almost three-quarters of a mile

639
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,640
before emerging
into the daylight here

640
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,760
to reach the highest point
on the route.

641
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:57,200
All right, here we go!

642
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,240
This is the Whitrope Tunnel

643
00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:05,160
and you had about 600 navvies
working on this at one time.

644
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,440
When was this?
In 1861 it was completed.

645
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,760
Just a huge about of work.
Tremendous amount of work.

646
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,240
But, I mean, you can't get here
without really noticing

647
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:15,040
that there's a lot of rock fall in
there.

648
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:16,680
A lot! Yes. A lot, yeah.

649
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:19,560
That happened about three years ago.

650
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:21,760
It started,
it was just a little bit,

651
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,200
and lately it's been
coming down quicker -

652
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:26,960
and above there somewhere
there's a stream.

653
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,920
You can just hear that, that
continuous stream of water now.

654
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,320
It's going to get worse as it goes
on

655
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:36,040
because there's no maintenance
done to it since 1969.

656
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:37,920
So if the whole Waverley line

657
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:41,120
were to be reinstated,
all the way down to Carlisle,

658
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,120
what would happen
with stuff like here?

659
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,800
Solution to that one
is to take the top off it

660
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,320
and then you've just got a...
Deep cutting. ..a big deep cutting.

661
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:50,880
And so for you, personally, Alan,

662
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,680
if you could get the train from
Hawick up to Edinburgh again,

663
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:57,000
I bet that would be a
real bonus, wouldn't it?
Oh, absolutely, yes.

664
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:58,920
I could get rid of the car now that

665
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,240
I had to buy all these years ago.
HE LAUGHS

666
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:09,120
Folk like Alan still remember
the fateful day in 1969

667
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:10,760
when the railway closed.

668
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,000
Trainloads of enthusiasts
had come for weeks

669
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,280
to ride the line whilst they still
could.

670
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:24,600
Meanwhile, the locals staged
protests, building replica coffins,

671
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:28,840
one of which was sent by rail to
the Minister of Transport in London.

672
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:36,880
The final train left Edinburgh at
9:56pm on the 5th of January.

673
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,080
Here, in Newcastleton,

674
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,600
the Reverend Maben got together
some local parishioners.

675
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:54,680
They locked the level crossing gate
shut and staged a sit-down protest

676
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,600
on the level crossing itself.

677
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:02,800
The police were unable to open
the gates and quickly arrested
the reverend.

678
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:04,440
The crowd only dispersed

679
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:08,120
once it was agreed that their
vicar would be released.

680
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,000
And, that same day,

681
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,080
the track of the Waverley Route
started to be removed.

682
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,760
There was to be
no last-minute reprieve.

683
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:33,120
For me, like the railway, leaving
Newcastleton means my route

684
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:36,000
across the Scottish Borders
is almost complete.

685
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,840
It's not every day I get
to walk across

686
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,840
a border between two countries.

687
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:47,840
Well, I am now because,
according to my map here,

688
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,240
when I come across Kershope Burn,

689
00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:54,040
I'm moving from Scotland into
England, and here it is!

690
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:55,400
Here's the water.

691
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:58,160
I'm in Scotland...

692
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,360
..and now I'm in England!

693
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,000
Having crossed the border,

694
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,080
the Waverley Route
headed almost due south,

695
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,240
with only one target remaining.

696
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:26,440
And just as it was then, Carlisle
remains a major railway town.

697
00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:29,360
And here we are!

698
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,040
At the southern terminus
of the old Waverley Route,

699
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:33,960
Carlisle railway station.

700
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,760
What a magnificent structure it is!

701
00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:45,000
At one point, in the mid-1800s,

702
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,160
seven different railway companies
operated services through here.

703
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,560
Those that helped pay for
the station's construction

704
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,480
got to have their plaque
displayed above the entrance.

705
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,320
The interior is just as impressive.

706
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:11,600
Eight platforms in all -
more than enough, you'd think,

707
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,000
for the reintroduction of
the Waverley Route.

708
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:17,400
There were varied reasons

709
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,000
for the closure of the
Waverley Route in 1969.

710
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,320
It was a fairly slow link,

711
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,440
through the sparsely-populated
Scottish Borders,

712
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:31,280
but now, 50 years later, come
and meet the people who live here.

713
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:32,800
Come and hear from them

714
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,040
the compelling reasons it
should be reinstated

715
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:38,720
and you'd be
hard-pushed to disagree.

716
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,000
Subtitles by Red Bee Media