Paisley and Barrhead District Railway
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The Paisley and Barrhead District Railway was a railway in Scotland that ran between the towns of Paisley and Barrhead. Despite stations being built on the line, the railway was only ever open to freight services. For this reason it was known locally as "the dummy railway".[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The railway was incorporated on 6 August 1897. It was vested with the Caledonian Railway under an Act of Parliament on 31 July 1902,[2] and subsequently became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.
The plan was to form a loop (which would have included Paisley Gilmour Street, Paisley's main station) by joining the line to the Caledonian Railway's Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St. James (Walkinshaw North & South Junctions) in the west and Paisley East at a junction near Arkleston in the east. The Walkinshaw Junctions were completed but the Arkleston one wasn't.[3] An embankment and a bridge [4] were constructed and the track laid but it was deliberately stopped short of the main line. [5] [6] The reason the line wasn't finished is that under Board of Trade regulations the Caledonian Railway were under an obligation to run a certain minimum number of trains per day. The advent of electric trams in 1903 made a train service financially untenable.[7]
The line was used only once by a passenger train; a rail tour operated by the Stephenson Locomotive Society on 1 September 1951.[1][8][9]The train started at Paisley East Goods at Cecil Street and made its way to Barrhead South returning through the west branch to Paisley Gilmour Street [10]
[edit] Route
Paisley and Barrhead District Railway had two branches.
[edit] West branch
This branched off the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St James and had railway stations at Ferguslie, Stanely, and Glenfield. There were also sidings to the Rootes car plant at Linwood on that branch. This section of line was used for the delivery of the Class 303 EMU which were built at the Pressed Steel plant in Linwood. Further sidings existed at Chain Road Goods Yard and Meikleriggs Goods Yard.[5]
The branch closed in stages. Meikleriggs Goods Yard on 6 September 1954, Ferguslie Chain Road to Barrhead South on 28 October 1963, Rootes' Siding to Ferguslie, Chain Road on 30 September 1968, Paisley St James to Linwood 21 October 1984 [11]
[edit] East branch
This was a very costly operation which included the building of 15 bridges [7], an enormous wall down the length of Lacy Street [12], three signal boxes and two stations at Dykebar and Paisley East (which was demolished in 1928).[13] [14] The high level Paisley East section along the wall was never used [7], however the branch continued into Paisley East goods (sometimes referred to as Paisley East Mineral Depot) [10] at Cecil Street crossing Lacy Street at street level. [15] Coal trains also ran to Dykebar Hospital, amongst other places.[5][16] The train shed in Dykebar hospital is still there,[17] as are the remains of the line going into the hospital. [18] It is possible to follow the route of the former railway from the River Cart crossing to Grahamston Road on the current online Ordnance Survey map by entering grid reference NS502626 and from there to Blackbyres at NS502610 where it is labelled a 'dismantled railway'. [19] The line from Blackbyres to Paisley East goods closed on 31 December 1960. [11]
[edit] Central section
The two branches met at Blackbyres junction then carried on to Barrhead New station, Barrhead South station and Lyoncross Junction.[3]
[edit] Connections to other lines
- Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St James
- Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway at Lyoncross Junction
- Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway at Arkleston Junction - planned but never completed.
[edit] Current operations
The line is completely closed and sections have now disappeared under more recent developments, especially in Paisley (as noted above) and Barrhead.
Parts of the line are now a cycle track, built along the route of the trackbed from Glenburn to Barrhead. Glenfield station was at the bottom of the hill, a short distance up Glenburn Road from where the cycle track ends.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Rowand (2000)
- ^ Awdry
- ^ a b Railscot Paisley and Barrhead District Railway page.
- ^ Photograph: Bridge at the junction of Greenlaw Drive and Greenlaw Gardens. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
- ^ a b c Wham
- ^ Photograph: Satellite photo of footpath at Greenlaw Crescent, Paisley. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
- ^ a b c Canadian Railways Magazine (1955)
- ^ Seller and Stevenson (1980).
- ^ Photographs of only passenger train journey in 1951. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ a b The Railway Magazine
- ^ a b Closed railway lines in Britain and Ireland - Scotland. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
- ^ Train alongside wall at Paisley East goods.
- ^ Smith (1993)
- ^ Glasgow railways - a chronology website.
- ^ Photograph: Seedhill Road bridge showing routes to coal yard and closed line to Paisley East. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ Barrhead history forum. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
- ^ Photograph: Train shed in Dykebar Hospital. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
- ^ Photograph: Remains of line into Dykebar Hospital. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
- ^ Ordinance Survey map. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
[edit] Sources
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063.
- Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present, 1st, Sparkford, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
- Canadian National Magazine By Canadian National Railways V. 40, no. 12 (Jan. 1955)
- Gammell, C. J. (1999). Scottish branch lines. ISBN 086093540X.
- Jowett, Alan (1989). Jowett's railway atlas of Great Britain and Ireland : from pre-grouping to the present day, 1st, Sparkford, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
- Rowand, David (1993). Pictorial History of Paisley. Alloway Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-9075-2655-1.
- Rowand, David (2000). Paisley. Paslet Publications. ISBN 0-9539-5991-0 .
- Seller, W. S. and Stevenson, J. L. (1980). The Last Trains, Volume 2: Glasgow & Central Scotland. Edinburgh: Moorfoot Publishing. ISBN 0-906606-01-2.
- Smith, W.A.C. and Anderson, P. (1993). An illustrated history of Glasgow's railways. Irwell Press.
- The Railway Magazine, Nov 1951 issue
- Wham, Alisdair (2000). Lost Railway Lines South of Glasgow. Wigtown: GC Book Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1-8723-5008-9.
[edit] External links
- Google satellite images, history and photographs
- Photograph: Remains of bridge at Hawkhead Road, Paisley
