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<DIV>I feel sorry for tourists to the UK who attempt to use the railways, for I
know they will be ripped off. I’m sure that most people on this list will
have at least one postgraduate degree, but you will need to apply considerable
transferable skills to master the pricing structures.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I thought I would make a daytrip in the autumn next year to Abbotsford (<A
title=http://www.scottsabbotsford.com/visit/
href="http://www.scottsabbotsford.com/visit/">http://www.scottsabbotsford.com/visit/</A>),
when the Borders Railway line (né Waverley line) reopens from Edinburgh.</DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'><FONT
color=#000000>“It is 50 years since Dr Richard Beeching's report on British
Railways which led to hundreds of stations and 650 miles of railway line being
closed in Scotland. The axing of the 98-mile Waverley Route from Edinburgh to
Carlisle was the worst of all the Beeching cuts, according to author and railway
expert David Spaven. The closure left the Scottish Borders as the only region of
Britain without a train service and Hawick, 56 miles from Edinburgh and 42 miles
from Carlisle, as the largest town farthest from a railway
station.”</FONT></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">The
terminus at Tweedbank will be only a 20 min. walk from Abbotsford.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><A
href="http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk">http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In any case, it is in a sense *my* railway line:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>STATIONS</DIV>
<DIV>Eskbank: close to Bonnyrigg (cousin lives there) & Lasswade (mother
born there)</DIV>
<DIV>Newtongrange: cousin lives there</DIV>
<DIV>Gorebridge: maternal grandmother born there</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course, it should never have been closed by Beeching, and should
continue to Carlisle:</DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Line
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Line">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Line</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Although VW wrote
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">“Then
there was Scott—he went bankrupt, and left, together with a few magnificent
novels, one house, Abbotsford, which is perhaps the ugliest in the whole Empire”
(“Middlebrow”, [Oct. 1932]), there is no evidence that she ever visited
Abbotsford. She came close in June 1938, visiting Scott’s grave in
Dryburgh Abbey, but surely she would have mentioned it if she had actually
visited Abbotsford? (Similarly, I went on a driving holiday years ago and
just missed visiting it – well, you can’t do everything.)</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">I
thought that we’d have lunch in the restaurant. Unfortunately, I won’t want to
eat a lot of the food:</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline"><A
href="http://www.scottsabbotsford.com/eat">http://www.scottsabbotsford.com/eat</A></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">It’s
the sort of muck that I call “International British” – plenty of cream and
cheese, and a tendency to mix sweet with savoury – so it’ll probably be just a
sandwich.</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">Of
course, I’ll take “Gas at Abbotsford” with me.</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline">So:
car to Preston; with luck free parking near the station, but probably £10 in the
station car park; hopefully, £2.50 – yes £2.50 – return by train on the 7.53 to
Edinburgh; arriving 10.23; return to Tweedbank (perhaps £13.10 return, less
one-third with my Senior Rail Card: <A
title=http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/borders-railway
href="http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/borders-railway">http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/borders-railway</A>),
probably leaving at 10.54, arriving at Tweedbank c. 55 min. later; returning
from Edinburgh on the 18.52; arriving Preston 21.17.</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
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