Time-Travel in Peebles, Tomorrow (3 September)

This Saturday, Tweeddale University of the Third Age are organising a history event ‘Travel in Time in Tweeddale’ which will be held at the Leckie Memorial Bakehouse (behind the Leckie Memorial Church - see map at foot of page), Eastgate, Peebles from 10.30 am to 4 pm.

Their day starts off with a walk round Peebles with Gerard Bakker, looking at some of the interesting houses built as a result of the coming of the railway. At the event there will be displays on travel themes, three talks about the railway, drovers and the impact of transport changes in Victorian Peebles, two film shows, and a walk along the drove road out of Peebles. They’ll have a colouring corner for children, too.

The event is free and I’m looking forward eagerly to the day.

Borders Family History Society will be there with a range of mainly Peeblesshire publications including Innerleithen Shops, Innerleithen Monumental (Gravestone) Inscriptions, Snippets & Photos About Old Innerleithen. Come and meet Davina, John and Peter and ask us for help with your family history.

Programme:
9.30am-11am    Walk:     A stroll round Peebles with Gerard Bakker, looking at some of the interesting houses built as a result of the coming of the railway  

10.30am    Exhibition opens with displays and objects on the theme of:

• Horse and carriage
• Highways and byways
• Impact of the Railway
• Borders Family History Society
• Children’s colouring corner and “memory lane”    

11am – noon  Talk    Ron Glendinning shares his memories – and great photographs of being bought up on Peebles railway, in conversation with Ronald Ireland.

Noon – 1pm   Walk    Discover with Stuart Akers where visitors to Peebles by rail and road recovered from their journeys.

Noon – 1pm   Films    A series of short films about transport in Tweeddale, by Brian Whitnell, featuring local people, and exploring working horses and the people who look after them - then and now.

1.15pm – 2pm   Talk    Mud, mayhem and merriment: Three Victorian Peebles’ residents talk about the changes brought about by  the momentous developments in transport  in 1864– not all of them desirable!
   
2.15pm – 3.15pm   Talk    Who were Scotland’s own “cowboys”?  Drovers passed through Peebles on the long journey south across the hills. Was it the ‘wild west’ out there? Where can you find their paths? Ronnie Watt tells their amazing story.

3.15pm – 5pm   Walk    Take to the hills with Francis Mordaunt and Ronnie Watt - in the footsteps of the Drovers.

3.15pm – 4pm    Films   A series of short films about transport in Tweeddale, by Brian Whitnell, featuring local people, and exploring working horses and the people who look after them - then and now.        

4pm    Exhibition closes

Outside the hall

• See horseshoes made and Ross Philips, a farrier, at work
• Get up close to a Vintage Tractor
• Go back in time with the Tweeddale Travel Timeline

Last Freight Train to Kelso - Information Wanted

Some years ago, I gave a talk to Borders Family History Society about the Waverley Route.

My interest in Border railways hasn't diminished and I've watched original photographs of locations sell for jaw-dropping prices on an internet auction site. Sadly, these historic shots seem to disappear into a black hole never to appear again.

Recently, there was a negative of Kelso station. The description said it was part of a collection; I suspected that in the normal course of events the usual bidders would win and the collection disappear.

I contacted the vendor and after some to-ing and fro-ing of emails, agreed on a price and I went to pick up the collection. After blethering for a while, he told me to take away a sports bag containing not just the negatives but some 25 reels of ciné film. For all the world, the 'collection' has the hallmarks of a house clearance.

It was, and still is, my intention to make sure that the railway negatives will be available to view once they are scanned and locations identified properly; some 70 of them are easily identified as taken around Kelso station.

I have no facility to watch 8mm ciné, however a friend produced a viewer which was hand-powered. One of the films was, intriguingly, labelled, 'St Boswells – Kelso – Tweedmouth' - a prime candidate for watching. Part of the way through the film were shots of the last freight train to Kelso in 1968. I had had permission to travel on it, and there, on the flickering ciné was a glimpse of me!

Although it was almost 50 years ago, I can recall quite clearly a gent waiting the arrival of the last freight. He had a couple of cameras and I think, perhaps, he was wearing a brown warehousecoat. On speaking to him, he said that he worked at the foundry.

From the locations, many taken between Kelso and Sprouston, and from the subjects of the negatives, I would hazard a guess that he lived and probably worked not far from the station.

However, not only is there 8mm ciné but also 9.5mm ciné. I have only looked at the white lead-in for clues; there are obviously several reels of Kelso and one of a foundry. I would guess a date around late 1960s. I'm hesitant at watching the other reels as I could damage the ciné.

One of the reel containers has “D W K C C” on it could this be DWK and Ciné Club ?

Can you suggest a name for a pretty prolific ciné enthusiast from Kelso and who possibly worked at the foundry? I'd like to make contact with any family members.

By Bruce McCartney

Just to clarify matters, the picture shown above was taken by Bruce and appears here with his permission.

Responses below, please, or via our Contacts page (choosing Contact the Chairman).

Railway to Duns

There’s a long article about the branch line that ran from Reston on the East Coast Mainline to Duns in the August 2011 edition of Backtrack (Vol 25 Number 8). The line opened in 1849 and closed to passengers in 1951. Goods traffic lasted until 1964. There were intermediate stations at Chirnside and Edrom and there references to a number of individuals. Names mentioned are – Arthur, Affleck, Brunton, Brydon, Cleland, Dagg, Davidson, Farnie, Friar, Kerr, Leitch, Nicholl, Patterson, Purves, Scott, Robertson, Thomson, Thornton, White, Whytock and Young