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 Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

on the B6399 road, the

Scottish watershed The Scottish watershed is the drainage divide in Scotland that separates river systems that flow to the east into the North Sea from those that flow to the west and north into the Atlantic Ocean. At a point on the summit of Ben Lomond for example ...

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 The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

, and artefacts of Railway heritage. The Waverley Railway line passed over the whitrope summit in the

Whitrope Tunnel The Whitrope Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel in the Scottish Borders, situated south of Hawick on the Waverley Route, close to Whitrope. It has a length of . It is the fourth longest tunnel in Scotland. The tunnel is on the Hawick to Carli ...

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 Whitrope Siding was a trailing short siding or spur off the "up" (southbound) line, an associated trailing cross-over between up and down lines, a pair of railway cottages and a signal box on the Waverley Line or Waverley Route. It was used as a g ...

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, Riccarton Junction, and

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