Attempts have been made on several occasions to avoid the digging out by gobbing up the roads in the district and putting stoppings at intervals, the treatment being extended for 100 yards or more.

The schoolmarm came to an abrupt stop in her arithmetic quizzing, her face set into a pruny scowl that looked to be permanent.

CBR calculated the estimated cost of reinstatement of the route, based on 2012 prices for the original Borders Railway project, as £644m. Admittedly, that's about four years out of date now, so it's looking more like a billion pounds, says Walton.

She told me she's saving herself for marriage.