Being prepared for action at Galashiels in April 1953, one of the two ex-GER 0-6-0Ts which worked the 10 mile line of the Lauder branch. This was Scotland’s first Light Railway opened in 1901, branching from the Waverley route at Fountainhall between Stow and Heriot. The tank engines used by BR had to run with empty loco tanks to reduce the axle loading, with water supplied by a permanently attached ex-NBR tender. Class J67 No 68511 shedded at Edinburgh St Margarets was outstationed at Galashiels along with sister engine No 68492 for work on the branch. Both were withdrawn in 1956. The branch closed to passengers in September 1932 and to goods traffic in September 1958. (What replaced the ex-GER tanks in 1957/8?)

© David P Williams Archive; Original photograph by P G Sankey.