The B6399 crosses the Whitrope burn - geograph

Whitrope is a densely forested, but sparsely populated area, high in the Southern Upland hills in the south central

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

in the former county of

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

. Situated some 12 miles south from Hawick on the B6399 road, the Scottish watershed passes through the area; Whitrope Burn draining south towards Newcastleton and Flosh Burn draining north towards Hawick. The main features are the large forests managed by the Forestry Commission, and artefacts of Railway heritage. The

Waverley Railway The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...

line passed over the whitrope summit in the Whitrope Tunnel at an elevation of . The Rail Heritage Centre is slightly south-west of this and is the headquarters of the

Waverley Route Heritage Association Waverley Route Heritage Association is a heritage railway group involved with the history, heritage and preservation of the Waverley Route, based/centred on Whitrope, south of Hawick, Scotland. Current projects include the restoration of the 1 ...

. A length of track has been re-installed and there is a collection of rail rolling stock at the Whitrope Siding station. A network of Heritage Trails has been established, including the Ritson Trail, named after William Ritson, a contractor from the Victorian era, and responsible for the

Shankend Viaduct Shankend Viaduct is a former railway viaduct in the Scottish Borders just over six miles south of the town of Hawick. It is a category B listed building. It carried the Edinburgh-Carlisle main line of the North British Railway, the Waverley Lin ...

, Riccarton Junction, and Whitrope Tunnel and summit.

External links

Waverley Route Heritage AssociationLeaflet: Heritage Trains around WhitropeRCAHMS record for Waverley Line, Railway Siding, Signal box
{{coord, 55.299, N, 2.746, W, region:GB_type:city, display=title Geography of the Scottish Borders

See also

External links