Launching the new edition of his book Waverley Route: the battle for the Borders Railway, author (and CBR activist) David Spaven argues that tourist and leisure passengers – originally dismissed as of marginal importance – may now be a crucial factor in the success of the Borders Railway: ‘The official traffic forecasts for the line are very conservative…and traffic modelling techniques really haven’t been able to address the non-commuting markets adequately…my feeling is that tourist and leisure passengers to the Borders stations and to Newtongrange – for the National Mining Museum – could be the key to the railway exceeding its patronage forecasts.’
David also praises the role of CBR in persuading the political establishment that tourism should be a central factor in the promotion of the railway, adding that ‘it would be good to see the key successes of Borders rail campaigners – largely unsung over the years – properly acknowledged during the re-opening celebrations on 4th to 6th September.’
Waverley Route: the battle for the Borders Railway – which is a 272-page paperback with a revised selection of over 100 illustrations – incorporates fresh archive material from the 1960s and reveals new insider insights into the political tensions throughout the 21-year battle to re-open the railway. It is available from Argyll Publishing on:
http://www.argyllbookstore.co.uk/index.php/2013-10-05-14-59-55/scottish-and-local/product/169-waverley-route-david-spaven-new-edition.html
John West says:
Let us hope that the new railway will be a great success leading the the reopening of the rest of the “lost” route.