Kelso and Jedburgh railway branch lines

The Railway of Kelso and Jedburgh branch lines was a 'network' of three distinct railway services serving Kelso in the Scottish Borders.

The first of these was a branch of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway, departing from a junction at Tweedmouth, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and initially terminating at Sprouston, two miles west of Kelso. This was opened in 1849.

The second line, opened in 1850, was a branch of the North British Railway which departed from the line for Hawick at St Boswells and initially terminated at a second temporary station just outside Kelso. After another year, in 1851, the gap between the two Kelso stations was closed and a permanent station at Kelso opened. The two companies, however, operated under competing managements and failed to develop a through service over the line.

Around five years later, in 1856, a further independent company, the Jedburgh Railway, opened its connection for Jedburgh. This branch departed from the Kelso line at the Roxburgh junction, around four miles to the south-west of Kelso.

Although woollen manufacture and shoe-making were important local industries, Kelso's economy was largely agricultural. From the 1930s onwards, transport policies increasingly pushed for road transportation over rail and, by the mid-twentieth century, goods and passenger carryings on the lines were being reduced. The Jedburgh line passenger service was closed in 1948. Passenger services on the other lines were heavily reduced in 1955 and withdrawn in 1964.