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Reston railway station

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Coordinates: 55°51′02″N 2°11′50″W / 55.8506°N 2.1972°W / 55.8506; -2.1972
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Not to be confused with Reston Town Center station.
Reston
National Rail
The current (second) station in May 2022.
General information
LocationReston, Scottish Borders
Scotland
Coordinates55°51′02″N 2°11′50″W / 55.8506°N 2.1972°W / 55.8506; -2.1972
Grid referenceNT877619
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byScotRail
Platforms2 (originally 3)
Other information
Station codeRSN
History
Original companyNorth British Railway
Pre-groupingNorth British Railway
Post-grouping
Key dates
22 June 1846 (1846-06-22)Station opened
13 August 1849Duns branch opened
10 September 1951Duns branch closed
4 May 1964 (1964-05-04)Station closed
23 May 2022Resited station opened
Passengers
2022/23  13,190
Location
Map

Reston is a railway station in the small village of Reston that serves the wider rural parish of Coldingham and nearby small town of Eyemouth in the eastern Scottish Borders council area. The station is a minor stop on the East Coast Main Line and opened on 23 May 2022[1][2] after a £20 million investment.[3] The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail, although the latter company does not provide any services to or from the station. It is the second railway station to have been located in the village, having replaced an earlier station that closed in 1964.

History

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Original station

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The main line of the North British Railway, between Edinburgh (North Bridge) and Berwick-upon-Tweed, was authorised either on 4 July 1844[4] or on 19 July 1844,[5] and opened to the public on 22 June 1846.[6][4][7] One of the original stations was Reston, which was flanked by Grantshouse towards Edinburgh and Ayton towards Berwick.[8] The initial service was of five trains each way on weekdays, and two on Sundays.[6]

The station became a junction with the opening of the branch to Duns on 13 August 1849;[9][10] this line was later extended by the Berwickshire Railway, reaching Earlston on 16 November 1863 and St. Boswells on 2 October 1865.[11][12] The main line ran roughly east–west through Reston, but turned to the south-east in the eastbound direction. The line to Duns and St. Boswells began at a junction facing Berwick-upon-Tweed and ran southwards towards the first station at Chirnside.[13]

The site of the first Reston station, photographed in 1997. The later site of the current station is obscured by the building in the background.

In 1904 the station (then listed as Reston for Coldingham and St. Abbs) was able to handle all classes of traffic (goods, passengers, parcels, wheeled vehicles, livestock, etc.) and there was a goods crane capable of lifting 1.5 long tons (1,524 kg).[14] Between Reston and Chirnside (on the Duns line) there were sidings known as Auchencrow Siding (just south of the road overbridge at grid reference NT860599) and Billiemains Sidings (just north of the road underbridge at NT858593), each on the western side of the line and able to handle goods only.[15][16]

Maps of the period show that Reston station had platforms on both sides of the double-track main line which were linked by a footbridge; the station building was on the northern (eastbound) platform; the platform for the single-track Duns line was on the north side of that line; the goods yard with its crane was on the north side of the main line on the western side of the station; and that the junction was to the east of the station. The maps also show sidings close to the junction, a weighing machine in the goods yard, a turntable in the angle between the two routes, a signal box near the junction and several signals.[16]

Decline and closure

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The St. Boswells line was cut back to Duns following flood damage on 12 August 1948.[12] The Duns branch closed to passengers on 10 September 1951,[10] and to freight on 16 July 1965.[17] Reston and Grantshouse stations were listed for closure in the first Beeching report,[18] and duly closed on 4 May 1964;[19] Ayton had closed on 5 February 1962.[20]

The remaining infrastructure at Reston consists of two engineer's sidings, one on each side, and two crossovers 47 miles 14 chains (75.9 km) from Edinburgh Waverley.[21]

Reopening

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The exterior of the current station in May 2022

Proposals to reopen the station received the backing of John Lamont MSP, who took the case to the Scottish Parliament.[22] A study published in 2013 proposed that East Linton and Reston stations be reopened.[23]

In 2019, Transport Scotland confirmed that the station would be operational by 2024.[24] The outline plans for the new station included 260-metre (853 ft) platforms either side of the Berwick-to-Edinburgh line, long enough to accommodate a 10-carriage train, as well as an accessible footbridge, shelters and a 70-space car park with provision for expansion in the future.[25][26] The planning application for the new station was submitted in December 2020[27] and approved in February 2021.[28]

Construction of the £20 million station[3] began in March 2021[28] and involved the closure of the line during a weekend in September 2021 to enable the station footbridge to be installed.[29]

The station opened on 23 May 2022[2][3] with TransPennine Express and London North Eastern Railway providing the first southbound and northbound services respectively.[30]

Services

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Reston is managed by ScotRail, but as of 2023 the company provides no services to the station; all train services are run by TransPennine Express and LNER. On weekdays and Saturdays, there are eight trains northbound to Edinburgh (seven operated by TransPennine Express, one operated by LNER), and eight trains southbound (four to Newcastle, two to Berwick-upon-Tweed, one to Liverpool Lime Street, all operated by TransPennine Express, and one to Leeds (Newcastle on Saturdays) operated by LNER). The service on Sundays similar to what is run on weekdays and Saturdays, except the first train in the morning to Newcastle and Edinburgh doesn't run.[31][32][33]

It has previously been suggested that, beyond 2023, the station might be served by a two-hourly Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed to Edinburgh service.[34]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Berwick-upon-Tweed   TransPennine Express
   Dunbar
or
Edinburgh Waverley
  London North Eastern Railway
  
  Historical railways  
Ayton
Line open; station closed
   North British Railway
   Grantshouse
Line open; station closed
Disused railways
Terminus   North British Railway
   Chirnside
Line and station closed

References

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  1. ^ "New Reston station set to open in May, officials confirm". Border Telegraph. 13 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Reston gets its station back after 58 years". BBC News. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "TransPennine Express celebrates first service to call at Reston in more than 50 years". TransPennine Express. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  4. ^ a b Awdry 1990, p. 152.
  5. ^ Ellis 1959, p. 5.
  6. ^ a b Ellis 1959, p. 11.
  7. ^ Butt 1995, p. 196.
  8. ^ Ellis 1959, p. 8.
  9. ^ Ellis 1959, p. 13.
  10. ^ a b Butt 1995, p. 86.
  11. ^ Butt 1995, p. 87.
  12. ^ a b Awdry 1990, p. 117.
  13. ^ Conolly 1976, p. 31, section C3.
  14. ^ RCH 1970, p. 457.
  15. ^ RCH 1970, pp. 120, 457.
  16. ^ a b OS 1908.
  17. ^ Dunse History Society.
  18. ^ Beeching 1963, pp. 124, 125.
  19. ^ Butt 1995, pp. 108, 196.
  20. ^ Butt 1995, p. 22.
  21. ^ Yonge 2007, map 11C.
  22. ^ BBC News 2012.
  23. ^ BBC News 2013.
  24. ^ "Reston station re-opening by 2024". Berwick Advertiser. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  25. ^ Knox, David (25 February 2020). "Reston Station plans submitted". Border Telegraph.
  26. ^ "Reston Station FAQs". Scotland's Railway. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  27. ^ "Planning application for Reston station submitted". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  28. ^ a b "Reston station return approved after more than 50 years". BBC News. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  29. ^ White, Chloe (3 October 2021). "New footbridge installed at across East Coast Main Line at Reston". RailAdvent. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  30. ^ "Reston opens: a new Scottish station, with no Scottish trains". RailTech.com. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  31. ^ "Reston station opens to the public as first passengers depart for Edinburgh". www.scotborders.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  32. ^ "LNER full timetable" (PDF). www.lner.co.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  33. ^ "North TransPennine Route". timetables.tpexpress.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  34. ^ CrossCountry (June 2021). "May '22 East Coast Main Line Timetable. CrossCountry Consultation" (PDF). CrossCountry Trains. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

Bibliography

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reston railway station.
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