Reston is a railway station in the small village of Reston that serves the wider rural parish of Coldingham and nearby small town of Eyemouth in the eastern Scottish Borders council area. The station is a minor stop on the East Coast Main Line and opened on 23 May 2022[1][2] after a £20 million investment.[3] The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail, although the latter company does not provide any services to or from the station. It is the second railway station to have been located in the village, having replaced an earlier station that closed in 1964.
History
Original station
The main line of the North British Railway, between Edinburgh (North Bridge) and Berwick-upon-Tweed, was authorised either on 4 July 1844[4] or on 19 July 1844,[5] and opened to the public on 22 June 1846.[6][4][7] One of the original stations was Reston, which was flanked by Grantshouse towards Edinburgh and Ayton towards Berwick.[8] The initial service was of five trains each way on weekdays, and two on Sundays.[6]
The station became a junction with the opening of the branch to Duns on 13 August 1849;[9][10] this line was later extended by the Berwickshire Railway, reaching Earlston on 16 November 1863 and St. Boswells on 2 October 1865.[11][12] The main line ran roughly east–west through Reston, but turned to the south-east in the eastbound direction. The line to Duns and St. Boswells began at a junction facing Berwick-upon-Tweed and ran southwards towards the first station at Chirnside.[13]
The site of the first Reston station, photographed in 1997. The later site of the current station is obscured by the building in the background.
In 1904 the station (then listed as Reston for Coldingham and St. Abbs) was able to handle all classes of traffic (goods, passengers, parcels, wheeled vehicles, livestock, etc.) and there was a goods crane capable of lifting 1.5 long tons (1,524 kg).[14] Between Reston and Chirnside (on the Duns line) there were sidings known as Auchencrow Siding (just south of the road overbridge at grid referenceNT860599) and Billiemains Sidings (just north of the road underbridge at NT858593), each on the western side of the line and able to handle goods only.[15][16]
Maps of the period show that Reston station had platforms on both sides of the double-track main line which were linked by a footbridge; the station building was on the northern (eastbound) platform; the platform for the single-track Duns line was on the north side of that line; the goods yard with its crane was on the north side of the main line on the western side of the station; and that the junction was to the east of the station. The maps also show sidings close to the junction, a weighing machine in the goods yard, a turntable in the angle between the two routes, a signal box near the junction and several signals.[16]
Decline and closure
The St. Boswells line was cut back to Duns following flood damage on 12 August 1948.[12] The Duns branch closed to passengers on 10 September 1951,[10] and to freight on 16 July 1965.[17] Reston and Grantshouse stations were listed for closure in the first Beeching report,[18] and duly closed on 4 May 1964;[19] Ayton had closed on 5 February 1962.[20]
The remaining infrastructure at Reston consists of two engineer's sidings, one on each side, and two crossovers 47 miles 14 chains (75.9 km) from Edinburgh Waverley.[21]
In 2019, Transport Scotland confirmed that the station would be operational by 2024.[24] The outline plans for the new station included 260-metre (853 ft) platforms either side of the Berwick-to-Edinburgh line, long enough to accommodate a 10-carriage train, as well as an accessible footbridge, shelters and a 70-space car park with provision for expansion in the future.[25][26] The planning application for the new station was submitted in December 2020[27] and approved in February 2021.[28]
Construction of the £20 million station[3] began in March 2021[28] and involved the closure of the line during a weekend in September 2021 to enable the station footbridge to be installed.[29]
Reston is managed by ScotRail, but as of 2023 the company provides no services to the station; all train services are run by TransPennine Express and LNER. On weekdays and Saturdays, there are eight trains northbound to Edinburgh (seven operated by TransPennine Express, one operated by LNER), and eight trains southbound (four to Newcastle, two to Berwick-upon-Tweed, one to York, all operated by TransPennine Express, and one to Leeds (Newcastle on Saturdays) operated by LNER). The service on Sundays similar to what is ran on weekdays and Saturdays, except the first train in the morning to Newcastle and Edinburgh doesn't run.[31][32][33]
It has previously been suggested that, beyond 2023, the station might be served by a two-hourly Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed to Edinburgh service.[34]
