Good to see The Queen celebrating becoming Britain’s longest reigning monarch by taking Nicola Sturgeon on a train ride pulled by a locomotive whose name includes the word “Union”. I’d love to know if she had any influence in choosing No 60009 “Union of South Africa” as the locomotive to pull the train.
The Borders Railway, which runs for more than 30 miles from Edinburgh to Tweedbank via Galashiels is the most ambitious railway reopening project to date. The original line, the former Waverley Route, ran from Edinburgh through Galashiels and Hawick to Carlisle. It was one of the last and most controversial of the sixties Beeching closures, wrongly considered an unnecessary duplication of the existing west coast main line despite being an important link for communities along the route.
Hopefully Tweedbank will only be the temporary terminus, and the line will be extended in due course to Hawick and beyond. Will The Queen still reign when 60009 steams beyond Tweedbank towards Carlisle?
When I first saw this story I thought it was a steam railway. But I guess it can’t be, and only the Queen’s train was steam?
Would steam be completely out of the question these days for a regular passenger route? (I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than a Pacer, could it?)
The Borders Railway is part of the national rail network, operated by Scotrail.
I can’t imagine any operator using steam engines for regular passenger services, but steam excursions on the main line are relatively common, and there are plenty of steam locomotives fitted with the latest safety devices compatible with modern signalling. There are even one or two places where they’ve kept old turntables in working order, such as the one at St. Blazey in Cornwall.
I understand that Union of South Africa was stabled at Edinburgh Haymarket for much of her working life and that therefore she was a good choice for this particular train.
Nothing should be read into the name at all.