The LNER Encyclopedia

Looking through my old postcard size prints from the late '50s/'60s the other day, I came across a print of a B1 on Tweedmouth shed, probably taken in the summer of 1961. The smokebox door is obscured by a large circular headboard on which the initials W&G are quite legible. The word 'Hawick' can just about be made out around the bottom periphery of the board (the contrast between the letters and the background is very poor) and there is more lettering at the top which I can't make out but which, I am informed by a friend in Hawick, is almost certainly "Wilson and Glennie", a now defunct woollen mill in the town. The annual holiday exodus from the Yorkshire/ Lancashire mill towns to various coastal resorts is well known, so did the Borders mill towns produce any thing comparable to the fleshpots of Spittal, or was this a one-off day excursion? I have recorded the loco as being 61263 but have always been in some doubt about this as the cabside was very dirty and the smokebox numberplate totally hidden. Perhaps the strong 52D presence on this site can shed some light on these questions.

Bill

There was the Annual Kelso trip my mother often took me to the pumping engine crossing at Ord to watch the train go by apparently this disgorged its passengers at Tweedmouth for the aforementioned flesh pots. I was too young to remember any details.

I cannot remember seeing any holiday maker excursions other than the occasional as you have described. Spittal was a lot busier in years gone by but could never be described as the Blackpool of the Borders!

I can remember seeing quite large groups of people carrying suitcases up Billendene Road from Spittal, heading for Tweedmouth Station, and similar groups heading the other way on summer saturdays. I don't mean hundreds of people like one would see at Scarborough or Blackpool, but certainly several dozen at a time. I was told at the time that they were from Glasgow, and came every year. This would have been around about 1963.
Some of these regular visitors subsequently came to live in Spittal when Highcliffe estate was built, and many families moved from Glasgow under a subsidised re-settlement scheme.

Was Carr Rock holiday camp still open then or was it long gone?

52A wrote:Was Carr Rock holiday camp still open then or was it long gone?

No I think it had gone by then, (I was only 8 or 9 at the time so can't be sure), most of the visitors would have stayed in guesthouses, there were quite a lot in Spittal at the time

Yes I thought that was the case, just getting confused with time lines! I can even remember the Spittal ferry, must be getting ancient!

About 1963 Carr rock jetty was struck by lightning and set on fire. It was later repaired and used for gravel export. At that time it was possibile to make out holiday camp foundations.