Symington railway station


Symington railway station served the village of Symington in Scotland between 1848 and 1965. It was on the main line of the Caledonian Railway and for most of its life was the junction for the branch to Peebles.

History

The original system of the Caledonian Railway was authorised on 31 July 1845, and the main routes were three lines radiating from a junction at. The southern of these lines, that to, was opened in two stages: the section south of opened first, on 10 September 1847; and the remainder opened on 15 February 1848. The station at Symington also opened on 15 February 1848. Originally, it was situated immediately north of the underbridge carrying the railway over the Biggar Road, at. There were two platforms, a goods shed and some sidings; the station building was on the western platform.
The station became a junction with the opening of the first section of the Symington, Biggar and Broughton Railway, as far as, on 5 November 1860; this line was extended to Peebles in 1864. In the meantime, on 30 November 1863, Symington station was re-sited at the junction, which was to the north of the original site. The new station had three platforms and a turntable. The main line curved from north-west to south through Symington; the line to Broughton and Peebles began at a junction facing Carstairs and ran eastwards then north-eastwards towards the first station at.
In 1904 the station was able to handle all classes of traffic and there was a goods crane capable of lifting.

Decline and closure

The Peebles line closed on 5 June 1950. Symington station was listed for closure in the first Beeching report, and duly closed on 4 January 1965.
The remaining infrastructure at Symington consists of two crossovers from Carlisle.