In the past, Peebles was served by two railway lines :

The North British Railway Line ran from Edinburgh to Galashiels via Peebles - the station was located adjacent to the Holland & Sherry mill on what is now known as 'Dean Park'. There were extensive sidings for this line located on the current site of Tesco Supermarket - the line led from there over the cuddy and on to the station (this is now the main Edinburgh road). You can see some remnants of the station infrastructure and a Painted steel Train to commemorate the towns railway past here.

The Edinburgh road car park was once the main stock yard ( a line led from here on over the Tweed to connect the two railway lines).

The old Galashiels route led from the Edinburgh road car park out of Peebles through what is now known as 'the bridges ' and along past the Hydro hotel (which once had it's own station).

The Caledonian Railway Company owned the line from Peebles on out West (through the tunnel and over the viaduct). Their station was situated on the banks of the Tweed on a site opposite the current location of Peebles swimming pool and headed West towards Lyne via a substantial tunnel hewn from the rock hillside by Neidpath Castle then over the beautiful viaduct over the river Tweed.

The dismantled railway still offers the public a great opportunity for walking/sightseeing - while some parts of the old routes are privately owned and not accessible to the public, much of it is:

The old Caledonian line which the walker West out of Peebles, through the great tunnel (alleged to have sheltered the Queen during a WWII air raid) and on over the Vaiduct at Neidpath Castle. This route takes you on an enjoyable walk along the river Tweed.

The Galashiels route (East out of Peebles )has been transformed starting just outside Peebles into a walking/cycling/horse riding route that stretches several miles from Peebles to Innerleithen. The route is tarmaced for most of its length and is ideal for family cycling. It also offers safe access to Glentress forest.

You can find more photographs of the Railway in Peebles at
www.railbrit.co.uk

Our thanks to the following for their permission to use their photos:

Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy of David Spaven)
Colin Miller
Jim Currie
Bill Roberton