Ghost Train

I feigned boredom this afternoon to get TM to take a break (not literally, one broken limb in the house is more than enough). He's chief cook, gardener and chauffeur, and ladies' maid as well .... it's a lot ...

We decided to have a drive into the wild land between Hawick and Newcastleton, where we've  not ventured very often. It's pretty empty - moorland and trees, few people, many sheep, and a single track road. 

In principle we knew that the Borders Railway, reopened a few years ago half a century after it fell under the Beeching axe, originally ran well beyond its present terminus at Tweedbank. 

But we'd never heard of Whitrope, the highest point on the line, or the tunnel a kilometer long, or the Preservation Society which used to operate trains on this section.

So  we were not expecting to coast around a corner and encounter a rusty locomotive ...

It was all a bit surreal ... and no mobile signal up there so it took us a while to piece the story together ... 

My wrist is hopefully mending - a new cast and a bit of manipulation, big ouch! Another X-ray on Friday ... life in the slow lane, mustn't get too accustomed to it :.)