Border Union Dream

The 1969-70 bid by the Border Union Company (BURco) to re-open the axed Waverley Route from Edinburgh to Carlisle captured the imagination of Border folk and the wider railway world. Between 2009 and 2012, the author discussed the BURco saga in depth with two (now both deceased) of its three directors and summarised the key events within his 'Waverley Route: the life, death and rebirth of the Borders Railway. Now, with the 50th anniversary of Waverley Route closure on 6th January 2019 and further archive material unearthed it is time to tell the full story: a heady mix of blue-skies thinking, political jockeying with British Rail, and over-optimism, sometimes bordering on fantasy. The book is illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs.