Talla Railway
Talla Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Talla Railway was a privately constructed railway line in Peebleshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was built in 1895 - 1897 to facilitate the construction of the Talla Reservoir, to serve the water demand of Edinburgh. The railway was about eight miles long, running south from a connection with the Caledonian Railway's Peebles branch, at Broughton. A private passenger service was operated for workmen on the reservoir construction.
The reservoir was inaugurated in 1905 and the railway's purpose was at an end; it was closed and later the track materials were removed.
History
The need for a reservoir
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, urban development and changing domestic habits substantially increased the demand for water in Edinburgh and other conurbations. In 1894, after some consideration, the Edinburgh and District Water Trust selected the valley of the Talla Water near Tweedsmuir, in the Scottish Borders, to create a new reservoir: it became the Talla Reservoir. The exceptionally high rainfall in the district made the location attractive.[1] The water surface is 950 feet (290 m) above sea level, and the water was to be piped 35 miles (56 km) to Alnwickhill in Edinburgh.[2] The land belonged to Sir Graham Graham-Montgomery, and was purchased from him for £20,425.[3]
The location of the proposed reservoir was remote and considerable volumes of construction materials would be required to be brought in to construct the earth dam.[2] The Water Trust decided to construct a private railway for the purpose: the Talla Railway. The Peebles branch of the Caledonian Railway (which had been built as the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Railway) ran west to east through Broughton, and the Trust negotiated with the Caledonian Railway over a private branch line connection. This was agreed in April 1895. The private railway would run southwards for about eight miles (13 km) along the valley of the River Tweed from a location somewhat east of Broughton station. The Caledonian agreed to lay a second track, at the expense of the Water Trust) alongside its own single line from Broughton station to the point of divergence of the new railway. At first a northwards branch line at Broughton was planned to extract clay for sealing the reservoir, but this was later changed, and the material was imported from elsewhere.[3]
Construction
The construction of the reservoir, and the line, was by contract, and the main contractor was James Young and Sons of Edinburgh; the contract for the railway construction was in the sum of £49,113, and work on it commenced on 28 September 1895. Engineering design was by J and A Leslie and Reid of Edinburgh.[2]
In March 1897 more than half of the railway had been built, from Broughton to the Tweed Bridge near Tweedsmuir, and the Caledonian Railway ran an inspection train from Edinburgh to the site. The line had a ruling gradient of 1 in 50.[2] The contract for the construction of the reservoir itself was let in April, but the substantial wrought iron truss bridge over the Tweed was not completed until 20 August 1897.[note 1] A ceremony for the official opening of the line and stone-laying for the reservoir took place on 29 September 1897, when a special train once again ran from Edinburgh, this time to Victoria Lodge, a management building constructed by the Water Trust at the north end of the planned reservoir. The train was named "The Tweedsmuir Express" and consisted of six six-wheel coaches, modern bogie stock being unable to negotiate the line because of curvature and clearance issues.[3]
The main contractor, James Young and Sons, began to get into financial difficulty as the work progressed. On 8 September 1899 the company's locomotive Talla was working at Broughton when it became derailed, blocking the passenger line. The Caledonian Railway was evidently dissatisfied with the technical standards of Young's rolling stock, for the Caledonian now prohibited Talla[note 2] from working on to Caledonian track. Young was unable to respond to the situation, and the Water Trust now asked the Caledonian to work the private railway, but this was refused. Young and Sons quickly went into liquidation and a bankruptcy hearing on 26 October 1899 resulted in the contract being re-allocated to John Best of Leith.
The Broughton clay, originally intended for sealing the dam, was considered to be unsuitable and clay was brought in from Carluke. Freestone was brought in from Craigleith and North Queensferry.
Although the Talla Railway was built for the reservoir construction, a workmen's passenger service from Broughton station was operated on it. Best increased the lcootmive fleet to six[note 3] and had two ex-Caledonian passenger coaches for his workmen's trains.[note 4][3]
Completion
The reservoir was substantially complete in the Spring of 1905 and a valve-opening ceremony took place on 20 May. Two special trains were run from Edinburgh to bring invited guests, although some motored there from Peebles. The construction cost £1.25 million.[2] Sir Walter Thorburn added a plea to continue the operation of the line, which was shortly to have fulfilled its purpose, to run public passenger trains for the benefit of the residents of Tweedsmuir. The population there was very small, having been 196 and declining in 1861,[4] and the request was firmly declined.[3]
Later events
In subsequent years a number of approaches were made, but the Caledonian had clearly evaluated the potential loss from agreeing to operate a branch line to such a small community, and continued to decline to do so.
In 1910 a contract was awarded to P J Maclennan Ltd of Glasgow to remove the track, in the sum of £6,431 and this was done over the following two years, using a hired-in Caledonian lcomtoive. The track materials were completely stripped. Only the ballast and formation remain, and can [2005] still be traced. The Tweed bridge carries water pipes as part of the feed to Edinburgh, and therefore remains in situ.
Victoria Lodge was later sold privately, and for some time was a quality guest house. It is now a private residence.
References
- ^ Liz Hanson, Peebles Through Time, Amberley Publishing Limited, Stroud, 2013, ISBN 978 144563 0199
- ^ a b c d e Roland Paxton and Jim Shipway, Civil Engineering Heritage: Scotland Lowlands and Borders, Thomas Telford Publishing, London, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7277-3487-7
- ^ a b c d e Peter Marshall, Peebles Railways, Oakwood Press, Usk, 2005, ISBN 0 85361 638 8
- ^ Borders statistics at http://www.bordersfhs.org.uk/Tweedsmuir.asp
Notes
- ^ Marshall says it was a steel bowstring, but from contemporary photographs it is plainly not; see also Paxton and Shipway. The abutments were faced with Italian granite.
- ^ And presumably Young's three other engines.
- ^ He also used a seventh on constructing an aqueduct near Glencorse as part of the water supply work.
- ^ It is suggested by Furneval that there was an intermediate station at Crook Inn near Tweedsmuir but this may be fanciful.
See also
- Furnevel, John (2 February 2006). "The Talla Railway". Railscot. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
- Scotsman (newspaper) article
- Talla Railway on A J B Hope website