At this period the North British was hugely committed financially and was concentrating on securing territory that might be attractive for competing railway companies to enter.

[1] In 1864 the request was repeated; the NBR was similarly committed, and responded coldly that they were prepared to work the line for 50% of gross receipts if local interests constructed it.

[1] In the aftermath of the Eyemouth disaster of 1881, in which 189 fishermen perished at sea in a storm,[2] there was a mood locally to improve the village's economy.

[5][4] Once more the North British Railway agreed to work the line for 50% of gross receipts, with the Eyemouth company obliged to pay for the junction and other alterations at Burnmouth.

[1] The lack of money continued to be an obstacle, and the Directors, all local men without railway experience, disputed among themselves the choice of route, even though it had been determined in their Act, and the Board failed to start work.

[4] A means of reducing the capital required for the line to £22,000 was found with the help of G. B. Wieland of the North British Railway, in 1884, but even so share subscription was not forthcoming, and on 30 April 1889 the company's Parliamentary deposit of £2,400 was forfeited.

Its plight moved Sir James Percy Miller, 2nd Baronet, who lived locally and was a director of the North British, to take shares, as did Lord Tweeddale, and Wieland became Company Secretary.

On Thursday morning, the Flying Scotsman, which leaves Edinburgh for Berwick at 10 o'clock, met with an alarming accident near Burnmouth Station.

The local promoters wished the railway to reach directly to the harbour, but this would have required passing through the village at considerable expense, and the NBR declined to build the extension.

The 2.97 mile long branch left the main line at Burnmouth in a westerly direction, running parallel to the main line for half a mile, and then turning north and following the eastern slope of the valley of the Eye Water as far as Nettlyburn, where it crossed to the west side and ran down into Eyemouth, where there was a small terminus station, with a single platform, run round road and two goods sidings.