Like so many other lines of the period, the Selkirk and Galashiels Railway started life as a locally-promoted venture intended to give Souters, and in particular the produce from their main industry the tweed mills, direct access to the recently-opened NBR Edinburgh-Hawick main line.
Although there were already a few operational mills in Selkirk by 1850, these were nothing like as developed as those in neighbouring Galashiels, the main problem being the cost of transporting coal from the Lothians where every mile that the coal had to travel added an extra cost to the finished product.
The opening of the main line from Edinburgh to Galashiels dramatically altered this with the cost of a ton of coal falling from some 28/- (£1.40 in new money) down to only 16/- (80p), with similar corresponding reductions for the carriage out of the town of finished goods.
Construction of the mills in Galashiels continued apace but, at the same time, the factory owners also began to look at the potential opportunities in Selkirk.
Following a meeting of local dignitaries, it was resolved to build a line from Selkirk to connect with the main line at Galashiels. This was authorised on July 31, 1854, and shortly afterwards, at a ceremony at Boleside, Mr Murray, of Philiphaugh, and Provost Roberts of Selkirk cut the first sod. The building of the line proceeded quickly and it opened officially on Saturday, April 5, 1856, to coincide with Selkirk Fair.
Although notionally independent, it was, like so many other lines of the time, worked from the outset by the North British before being absorbed totally under the terms of the North British and Selkirk Railways Amalgamation Act 1859.
Heading south from Galashiels, the branch left the main line by means of a right-hand double junction at Selkirk Junction (often referred to as Galafoot Junction) before immediately crossing over the Gala Water by a wooden bridge. It continued along an embankment before descending on a tight curve, passing the new Gas Works and a trailing rail connection to Netherdale Mill Sidings, before crossing the Netherdale road at Galafoot by means of a stone bridge.
After passing Netherbarns, the first station on the line, Abbotsford Ferry, was reached. From here, as the name suggests, there was a cable-worked ferry which ran across the river to serve Abbotsford House, home of Sir Walter Scott. Passing over a level crossing at the south (Selkirk) end of the platform, the line descended before crossing the River Tweed at 'The Meetings'.
The line now climbed gently to follow the south bank of the Ettrick before reaching Lindean Station. Passing over the level crossing, the line rose steeply to cross the side road to Bridgelands on a stone bridge before, after crossing the A7 road by another stone bridge at Bridgeheugh, it began its descent to the outskirts of the town.
Entering Selkirk on the north side, the line passed over Dunsdale Haugh level crossing at what was to become St Mary's Mill before reaching the terminus at Riverside Road.
Like many other lines of the period, the branch initially ran profitably, thanks in the main to the produce and needs of the many farms and shopkeepers in the area. Particularly the goods traffic generated by the mills which eventually were built along the entire length of the branch from the Riverside Road site to the town boundary.
Passenger services, although suffering from reducing numbers, were still relatively frequent even up until the end of the Second World War.
In an attempt to cut costs, Abbotsford Ferry was closed by the LNER in January 1931, other than once a year for the Galashiels Braw Lads' Gatherings and, in a further effort to minimise costs and increase passenger numbers, Sentinel Railcars (known in Selkirk as the 'Coffee Pot') were also introduced to the branch but this failed to make any difference either to passenger numbers or running costs and the branch then reverted to standard locomotive haulage, latterly reduced to a mere two return workings a day with none on Sunday.
As elsewhere, cost-cutting merely served to hasten the end and the final passenger train ran on the evening of September 10, 1951, some 95 years after the opening of the line.
Despite the inroads made by road freight services and the de-rationing of petrol, a goods service, somewhat surprisingly, continued to run until January 1964 with the line from the terminus to Netherdale Siding closing in November of that year.
By the end, there seems to have been only one train running, latterly on an 'as required' basis, with the normal load being two or three wagons of coal for the local merchant and the occasional van.
The last part of the line to remain open was Netherdale Siding to Selkirk Junction, which officially closed on October 3, 1966.
The 50th anniversary of the opening of the line was celebrated in style on April 5, 1906. As part of the celebrations, Willie Gow, the driver of the first train in 1856, and who had remained at Selkirk until his retiral in 1898, was joined by one of the guards from the early days, an E. Grossart, both of whom came out of retirement.
In Willie's case it was to drive the 10.45 train from Selkirk to Galashiels and back again. Even although the then driver Alex Stewart accompanied him on the footplate, Willie apparently insisted on doing all the driving himself.
The railway was a big employer in the early days and, apart from Messrs Gow and Grossart, other employees in the first half century of its existence included William Lillie, who was station master from 1875 until about 1908, Jock Blacklock, Sandy Donaldson, Davy Colville, Willie Newton, John Pringle, Jamie Wallace, John Dickson and 'Dod' Inglis.
The station yard was also home to various coal merchants' mills and hauliers such as William Dickson, Robert Stark, George Roberts & Co, the Selkirk Gas & Light Company and the Selkirk Co-operative Society, all of whom had their own wagons. Other Coal Merchants known to have operated out of the yard are A. A. Harper and W. W. Mitchell and coal from collieries such as the Lothian, Arniston and Ormiston coal companies were also regularly seen in the yard.
Accidents on the line were, thankfully, few and far between.
In December 1871, the stoker, a young man named Robert Burns, slipped between the locomotive and the carriages and was run over by the locomotive.
Another serious incident happened in 1896 when local coal merchant Thomas Dickson was struck and killed by the 8.25 train from Galashiels, and in 1923, a Charles Palfrey was also killed while crossing the line to meet his daughter off the last train.
There were also moments of humour, however, such as in January 1863 when Willie Gow took the 7.45pm train out of the station only to discover at Lindean that the carriages had not been coupled to the train.
Today little remains to show that Selkirk once had a railway. The odd reminder can still be seen, though, if one looks hard enough but most of the track bed has now gone and the site of the station is now a small industrial estate.
The Station Hotel, however, serves to remind us of what once was.