BORDER COUNTIES RAILWAY THROUGH TIME

The Border Counties Railway ran from the old railway village of Riccarton Junction on the Waverley Route across the Border and through Northumberland to Hexham. Partly intended to provide access to coal deposits at Plashetts, near Kielder Water, the railway was also linked to a scheme by the Duke of Northumberland to alleviate local hardship. Services began in 1862 but closed to passengers in the late 1950s, and the line has now largely disappeared.