To begin her journey in The Wizard Of Oz, Dorothy is told to follow the yellow brick road.

Around 1,200 commuters, travellers, sightseers and train enthusiasts wanting to sample a piece of railway history in Edinburgh's Waverley station yesterday were directed instead to a white train track made of criss-crossed pieces of gaffer tape which snaked east from the main concourse, under a footbridge and towards the back of the station.

Nor was their final destination the Emerald City but the rather less glitzy town of Tweedbank. Even so they came in their hundreds, excited by the prospect of travelling on the £296 Borders Railway which had finally opened for business.

For 54-year-old Robert Kivlichan, eight when the so-called Waverley Line closed in 1969, the experience had brought back memories of another classic musical as he journeyed up from his home in Tweedbank with his partner, Judith Lees, 49. "I can remember my mum bringing me up to see the Sound Of Music on the train," he said after stepping off the late-running 12.40 to spend the afternoon in the capital.

Heading in the other direction was Rachel Brown, 24, a freelance musician who works mostly with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Opera. She lives in Eskbank and was travelling home from Glasgow.

"It's amazing, I'm really excited," she said and she clutched her ticket. "It's something that's been needed for a long, long time.

Ms Brown would normally travel to and from Edinburgh on the bus, a journey which can take up to 45 minutes. The Borders Railway will cut that to just 20 minutes.

"There's going to be a lot more opportunity to just go into Edinburgh, and the last train is a five to midnight so that's really handy too, "she said. "I definitely think it's going to be a massive success and I think it will definitely impact economically on the Borders because not having the decent transport links has put off a lot of people who might like to live in the area, so the population has decreased a lot in recent years. This will just be so good for lots of commuters and attract them to the Lothian and Borders area.

"It's good for me because I play the tuba and it's massive. You can't take an instrument like that on the bus, so I've always found that if I'm working it's a nightmare. But you can take them on the trains to I'm looking forward to that a lot."

Standing proudly by the platform and watching on was 43-year-old Ruth Hinks, South African-born and Sydney-raised but now resident in her husband's home town of Peebles where she runs chocolate company Cocoa Black. Beside her in a glass case was a model of the Flying Scotsman which has been commissioned to celebrate the re-opening of the line. Weighing in at 100 kilogrammes it used up 75 kilogrammes of chocolate, took 400 hours to make and contains a whopping 400,000 calories.

Two years ago Hinks was chosen to represent the UK in the World Chocolate Masters in Paris and came fifth, an achievement which put Peebles on the chocolatiers' map. She hopes the new rail link will put the town and the surrounding area on a few other maps now too.

"There's a big buzz within the community, definitely a very positive vibe. People are very excited about the railway," she said. "I think it's going to be great because all those people who fancy a day trip out can visit, and people can work in Edinburgh and just commute. I think it will benefit Peebles directly as well because we have a very good bus service and if people come into Galashiels they can come across."

The longest domestic line to be built in the UK in over 100 years, the Borders Railway will have its official opening on Wednesday when The Queen attends a special ceremony and travels on the line.