Stobcross Railway
The Stobcross Railway is a rail line originally created to provide freight rail access to the new Queens Dock and the expanding west end of Glasgow. It was built by the North British Railway company and opened in 1874,[1] branching off the former Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway west of Maryhill Park and then heading south through Anniesland, Hyndland and Partickhill to reach the new Queens Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde.
Though built primarily for freight traffic, the opening of the Glasgow City and District Railway in 1886 saw the Stobcross become part of a busy & expanding network of commuter routes. It was linked to the following lines:
- Glasgow Central Railway at Kelvinhaugh Junction (giving access to Central Low Level, Bridgeton and the south side of the city)
- GC&DR at Yorkhill (giving access to Queen Street Low Level and hence the City of Glasgow Union Railway & Coatbridge Branch (NBR) at High Street East Junction, for the eastern suburbs of the city and the Springburn branch).
- GH&DR at Westerton (for Milngavie, Dalmuir and Dumbarton Central, via the GD&CR)
- Whiteinch Railway at Jordanhill East Junction (which in turn accessed the Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Railway serving the shipyards at Clydebank).
The connection at Stobcross to the GCR meant that the Caledonian Railway could also access the route by means of running powers and it used them to service its goods depot at Partickhill for several years until it could build its own lines there.
Stations
The following stations were built:
- Anniesland - originally opened as Great Western Road, becoming Anniesland in 1931.
- Partickhill - closed in 1979 and replaced by the current Partick station a short distance away.
- Yorkhill - closed by the NBR in 1921.
A terminal station at Hyndland (at the end of a short branch from Partick Junction) was subsequently added when the GD&CR opened in 1886, along with the current station at Jordanhill on the short connecting line between Jordanhill East & West Junctions.
The line today
Almost all of the route is still open - most of it forms part of the North Clyde Line electric commuter network and the remainder at the northern end is used by Maryhill Line DMU services between Maryhill and Anniesland. The latter section was went out of use at the end of the 1970s and was lifted in 1987-8, only to be rebuilt and reopened in 2005 by Network Rail with financial support from the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. The only parts of the route that are no longer in use are the goods yards at Partickhill and the Queens Dock (the line there from Kelvinhaugh Junction was closed in 1968 and the site is now occupied by the Scottish Exhibition Centre) and the old terminus station at Hyndland (closed to passengers in 1960 & replaced by the current station). This latterly served as one of the maintenance depots for the North Clyde EMU fleet until its final demise in 1987. The connections to the Glasgow Central Railway at Kelvinhaugh Junction were closed along with the line in October 1964, but reopened as part of the Argyle Line project (along with Stobcross station, now renamed Finnieston) in November 1979.
References
- ↑ Railscot Chronology - Stobcross RailwayRailscot; Retrieved 2014-01-16
Sources
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063.
- Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
- Yonge, John (May 1987). Gerald Jacobs, ed. British Rail Track Diagams - Book 1: ScotRail (1st edition ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0948-6.
- Yonge, John (February 1993). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (2nd edition ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0995-8.
- Yonge, John (April 1996). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (3rd edition ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 1-8983-1919-7.
- Yonge, John (2007). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (Quail Track Plans) (fifth edition ed.). Bradford on Avon: "Trackmaps (formerly Quail Map Co)".. ISBN 978-0-9549866-3-6. OCLC 79435248.