To mark the first anniversary of the return of rail passenger services to Reston in the Scottish Borders, children from the village’s primary school have planted a time capsule to commemorate the event.

To celebrate one year of passenger services, pupils from Reston Primary School were invited to plant a time capsule at the station.

As well as children from years four and seven at the school to officially bury the time capsule were the Chairperson of Reston Community Council, Kerry Simmonds, and Barrie Forrest and Tom Thorburn from the East of Scotland Rail Action Group.

Included in the time capsule were letters that the children had written about themselves, a school badge, memorabilia from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee’ and photographs of the children from the station’s opening event.

Current plans are that the capsule will be reopened on the 25th anniversary of the re-opening of Reston station in May 2047.

Reston station serves the village of Reston and the surrounding area of Berwickshire and provides easy access to Edinburgh and Newcastle where connections can be made with the national rail network.

Thanks to a £20m investment from the Scottish Government, Reston station re-opened on 23rd May 2022, which was the first time in 58 years that passengers could travel by train from the village. It is situated on the East Coast Mainline and has platforms long enough for trains with ten carriages. With step-free access onto Platform 1 and across via a footbridge with lifts to Platform 2 the station is fully accessible.

Currently, eight trains stop at the station each weekday between Edinburgh and Newcastle, with seven operated by TransPennine Express and the others by London North Eastern Railway (LNER).

Jill Horsburgh, headteacher of Reston Primary School said: “The children were so excited to be invited back to the station to plant the time capsule after having the pleasure of being there for the opening last year.

“The pupils thought long and hard about what they wanted to go into the time capsule and made sure it was fitting for their May 2022 memories.

“The return of Reston station to the village has been fantastic and I am certain that it will enhance the social, leisure, education and employment opportunities for our young people and everyone else in the village in the future.”

Lisa McKenna, Network Rail’s project manager for the Reston station development said: “This was an exciting project to be part of and it was great to build a station for a village that will really benefit from the improved transport links to Edinburgh, Newcastle and beyond.

“It’s so lovely to hear that a legacy is also being created by pupils from Reston Primary School in the form of a time capsule to mark the first anniversary of the return of the station to the village.”