Comic Earlston Railway Postcards

Two railway cartoons feature in the Auld Earlston postcard collection.

 

 Our Local Express - The Good Old Berwickshire Railway

Acceleration of Trains - the Greenlaw  Corridor makes the journey 

from Greenlaw to Earlston  and back in twenty four hours. 

Postcard franked 1906. 

The Last Train from Earlston 

These are not, however original to Earlston,  but penned by  Fife born artist  Martin  Anderson - you will see his pseudonym signature of Cynicus  at the foot of each card. Many of his railway cartoons were overprinted with different captions and town names, as here.  

Martin Anderson, (1854 –193)  studied  at Glasgow School of Art, set up the St. Mungo's Art Club and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.    In 1880 he joined  the publisher of  The Dundee Advertiser, The Evening Telegraph, People's Journal, and People's Friend - the first  such staff artist to be employed by any daily newspaper in Britain, for until then daily newspapers were not illustrated.

He turned increasingly to satirical and political cartoons and comic postcard illustrations setting up the "Cynicus Publishing Company".   After initial success, the company was forced to close.  Martin Anderson returned to Edinburgh in 1915, leasing a basement shop in York Place. Nine years later  his Edinburgh shop was destroyed by fire, everything inside it was lost, and he did not have the funds to repair and restock it. 

He retired to Fife to live in increasing poverty.  He died in 1932  and was buried in Tayport Old Churchyard, in an unmarked grave.  

A sad end for such a prolific artist who was a forerunner in  the  field of humourous postcards.  His work is still regularly available in auction houses and online.

Source:  Wikipedia  
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If you have any postcards of Earlston, the Auld Earlston Group would love 

to hear from you.  

Your postcards can either be donated or loaned, scanned and returned to you.  

Contact:   auldearlston@aol.com 

More postcards on the village  can be viewed on our Lost Earlston Facebook page.

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Railway Photographs on Show around the Village

 Take a look around Earlston and you will now see  

old photographs of Earlston's Railway 

displayed in 22 shops and venues in the village. 

They are the result of Auld Earlston's  recent project "Remembering Earlston's Railway 1863-1965" .  

 

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An accompanying  notice outlines the railway's history:

The Berwickshire Railway through Earlston served the village 1863-1965. and was one of many lines lost in railway history. 

It provided the link between the east coast Edinburgh - London line and the Waverley Route through the central Borders via Newtown St. Boswells. The cross- country railway was built in three stages - to Duns in 1849, westwards to Earlston in 1863 and the final stage two years later in 1865 with the completion of the Leaderfoot Viaduct across the River Tweed.

Devastating floods across Berwickshire in August 1948 meant that passenger services were suspended, with only freight services continuing on part of the line.

Closure came without ceremony on 16th July 1965 - marking the end of the 102 year old line of the Berwickshire Railway through Earlston.

      Auld Earlston acknowledges project funding from Scottish Borders Council's                    Borders Railway Celebration Fund and the Community Grant Scheme. 

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Earlston Railway Cuttings 1 - Celebrating the First Sod

11th October 1862 was a local holiday in Earlston to mark the cutting at Greenlaw of the first sod for the Berwickshire Railway, with shops and businesses closed for the day.  

An article in "The Southern Reporter" 23rd October 1862 gives us a contemporary and entertaining  account of the celebrations  on that occasion:

"Villagers were put on the "qui vive" by the arrival of the brass band of the 2nd Selkirkshire Volunteers who reached here between 8 and 9 o'clock, and after partaking of refreshments and discoursing several spirit stirring tunes, proceeded onwards to the centre of attraction.

They were quickly followed by the majority of our male population in carriages, gigs and omnibus, and not a few in long carts - the occupants making every village and farmstead they passed resound with their oft repeated and hearty "hurrahs".

Of what passed at Greenlaw it is unnecessary to to speak here, suffice to say that the whole of our sightseers arrived home between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening, all highly gratified by the proceedings, not from what was seen or heard, but from the fact that they had had a period [a stop] put to their desponding fears, and had witnessed the realisation of their ardent hopes. The commencement of the railway will open up a ready means of communication in every direction.

Towards night, rain began to fall which to a great extent marred the effect of a large bonfire on the Western Green, the materials for which had been kindly contributed by Messrs Wood, Gasworks; Smith, merchant; Brownlie. wood-merchant.

The Messrs Wilson, manufacturers, not only closed their factory, and placed their horses and carts at the disposal of their employees. but forwarded a liberal supply of refreshments and had also secured in Greenlaw a private room for their reception."

 A goods train from Earlston travelling between Gordon and Greenlaw.

Copyright  © Bruce McCartney.  All Rights Reserved.  

 http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/monorail/bmcc01.htm

 

This article is the first in a series of newspaper clippings 

on the railway through Earlston.  

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Auld Earlston on Track with Open Day & Exhibition

The Open Day and Exhibition held last Saturday  by Auld Earlston attracted a large audience throughout the day at the Church Hall.

The main focus of the exhibition was the launch of the group's latest project "Remembering Earlston's Railway (1863-1965)", with forty photographs, both framed and laminated, which will shortly go on show in shops and other venues around the village. Adding to the display were information sheets on the history of the railway, contemporary accounts from old newspapers  and contributions from primary school children who were involved in interviewing grandparents and older residents on their railway memories. 

 One of the information displays on the railway project. 

 Steam train crossing the Leaderfoot Viaduct, c. 1959

Photograph by the late Rev. John Duncan of Earlston

Visitors also had the chance to browse through extensive displays of vintage photographs on the village, watch a slide show and chat over tea and coffee. 

Chairman Sheila Mackay said " We were delighted at the response and thank all who came along to support our first open day and exhibition,to make it such a success. We were encouraged by the length of time many people took to look around and exchange reminiscences. It was good to meet people we had not seen for many years and some folks who had travelled from far and wide to see what our group is doing to keep Earlston’s past alive."

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Sharing Memories - The Spittal Trip

MEMORIES OF THE SPITTAL TRIP

   Written by Inez Polson in 1991  

The excitement started  days before - "Are you gaun tae the Trip?" was on everyone's lips.  "I hope ii's no raining or misty".  (What a worry!)  "Will the tide be oot or in when we get there?". 

By Friday, the whole village was excited - not just the children, but  mothers, aunts, uncles, Sunday School teachers (from both churches), retired policemen and helpers of all ages.  Old sand shoes were hunted out and the toes cut out to make waders.  Schoolbags were washed or brushed to carry extra food, spare pants, socks and towels, Spades and pails were examined to decide if they needed replacing.  Travelling rugs were aired, Everyone scrubbed the night before and went to bed early. 

At last, it  was "THE MORNING"!  It was off to the station - a motley crew of some hundreds of all ages. Pandemonium reigned until everyone found their class, and mothers  found friends and relations.  The train came puff-puffing in, blowing steam and tooting. Station Master, Guard and Porter opened the doors as fast as they could and we all thronged in.  Doors were banged shut, the whistle blew and we were off. 

We cheered for everything we passed - the level crossing at "Gates Cottage", the wood yard and Town Farm.  There were some complaints from those who did not have windows seats and then we would cheer for Gordon Station and the quarry, for Greenlaw, Marchmont and Duns.   

There was usually another train standing at Duns and some anxious moments till we safely past by.  Even though there wasn't much at Edrom and Chirnside, we cheered for them, and because Reston was a "junction", we gave it a special cheer, even though some of us were none too sure what a junction was, as we could only see some cattle trucks and coal trucks.  

Everyone crowded to the left side windows near Burnmouth for the first glimpse of the seas, and we were sure we could catch a salty smell from it.  If we had been anxious at Duns, we were very nervous about the crossing of the Border Bridge and looking down on the Tweed.  But that was forgotten as we steamed into Tweedmouth Station, collected our picnic bags and were escorted safely over the lines for the long walk down to Spittal. (Many's the picnic bag consumed before the tea was poured.!)

When mothers, grannies and the odd father were installed on the beach to protect all the belongings, spaces and pails, were brought into action and castles built and knocked down, ball games were started and races run.  Although it was too dangerous to swim, we waded and paddled on even the coldest of days.    Before leaving the beach, we ate the last sandwiches, even though they seemed to be a little crunchy from the sand!

It was a long drag back up the hill, with tiredness, sunburn and sea air all taking their toll.  At the station we  couldn't understand how the train had turned around, but older boys used technical words like "loop lines" and "turntables" and "coupling up" to try to explain.  All back into the train with cries of "Where's Willie?" and   "You had the window the last time", and a green flag and a whistle started us homeward.

Too tired for cheers now, but we could still raise a "Goodbye Sea", "Goodbye Sand" and "Goodbye Spittal!"  And to add to the treat, we were going home a different way by Velvet Hall signal box and the other side of the Tweed.   Unfamiliar station names flashed by, but when we saw Kelso and Roxburgh,  Rutherford and Maxton, we knew that Newtown St. Boswells Station and Leaderfoot Bridge were getting nearer.    As we drew up in a cloud of steam at Earlston, the white station fence was lined with "Dads",  and friends who weren't on the trip came down to see us come home.   The train doors opened and out poured tired, sunburnt, sticky, cheering  children - the Spittal Trip was home. 

Inez died in 2009. She was born in 1914, so her memories of the trip are probably from the mid 1920s onwards.

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Footnote:  The Spittal Trip took place on a Saturday in late June.  We are not sure if the switch to buses was caused by the war, or the floods of 1948 that closed the railway line east.   When was there a change of destination to North Berwick?  Has anyone any further information, on the Spittal Trip or on other train journeys.  


                 Auld Earlston would love to hear from you to share your memories.
                                           E-Mail:  auldearlston@aol.com

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  Photographs of the Spittal Trip from the collection of the late Rev. Duncan 

 

 

 

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