Ayrshire Coast Line
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Ayrshire Coast Line
The Ayrshire Coast Line is one of the lines within the Strathclyde suburban rail network in Scotland. It has 26 stations and connects the Ayrshire coast to Glasgow. There are three branches, to , and , all running into the high level at . The route is operated by ScotRail. History The Ayrshire Coast Line consists of lines that were formerly part of the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway, the Ardrossan Railway and its Largs Branch extension. After electrification The line to Ayr was electrified and Class 318 electric multiple units introduced by British Rail in September 1986. The full electrified service, including trains to Largs and Ardrossan Harbour, commenced on 19 January 1987. These were supplemented by occasional use of Class 303 and Class 311 EMUs, then in use on the Inverclyde Line. These EMUs replaced the Class 101 and Class 107 DMUs that had served the line for over 30 years. Class 126 DMUs were also use ...
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British Rail Class 380
The British Rail Class 380 '' Desiro'' is a type of electric multiple-unit train that operates on the National Rail network in Scotland, for ScotRail. The Class 380 Operates out of Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen Street, Ardrossan Harbour, Largs, Edinburgh Waverley and Ayr. The Siemens '' Desiro UK'' family also includes units of Classes 185, 350, 360, 444 and 450. Description The trains operate ScotRail services in the Ayrshire and Inverclyde region of Scotland and had originally been intended for the cancelled Glasgow Airport Rail Link. They also operate on the Glasgow Central - Edinburgh route when needed. The construction was awarded to Siemens and announced by Transport Scotland on 11 July 2008. A total of 38 units were ordered, comprising 22 three-car and 16 four-car units. All 38 units are owned by Eversholt Rail, a rolling stock company (ROSCO) that leases them to ScotRail. Stations along the Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line underwent platform extension ...
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Largs Branch
The Largs Branch is a railway line in Scotland, serving communities on the north Ayrshire Coast, as well as the deep water ocean terminal at Hunterston. It branches from the Glasgow to Ayr line at Kilwinning. The first part was formed when the Ardrossan Railway was built, with the principal objective of facilitating coastwise export of minerals and import of goods to Glasgow, but it was only partly successful. The later Glasgow and South Western Railway extended the line to serve Largs, opening the line throughout in 1885. There is a half-hourly electric passenger train service a far as Ardrossan, and generally hourly from there to Largs. Heavy mineral trains use the route from Hunterston deep water terminal. History Horse drawn trains The twelfth Earl of Eglinton developed Ardrossan Harbour in the early years of the nineteenth century, intending it to be useful for the transport of minerals from Ayrshire by coastal shipping, and as an inwards port to serve Glasgow. He tried t ...
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British Rail Class 314
The British Rail Class 314 was a class of alternating current electric multiple unit (EMU) trains built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Holgate Road carriage works in 1979. They were the third class of units derived from British Rail's 1971 prototype suburban EMU design which, as the BREL 1972 family, eventually encompassed 755 vehicles over five production classes ( 313, 314, 315, 507 and 508). The Class 314 fleet was used to operate inner-suburban services on the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport rail network in and around Glasgow, most typically on the Argyle, North Clyde, Cathcart Circle, Paisley Canal and Inverclyde lines. The units, formed of three cars each, worked either independently or in six-car pairs. Although the fleet had undergone a number of life-extension overhauls and upgrades, it was withdrawn from service in 2018–2019 as a result of non-compliance with the requirements of the Persons with Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Inter ...
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Glasgow South Western Line
The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride. History The line was built by several railway companies during the 19th century: * 1812 - Kilmarnock to Barassie by the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway * 1839 - Barassie to Ayr (Falkland Junction) by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway * 1848 - Strathbungo to Neilston by the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway * 1848 - Kilmarnock to Cumnock opened by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway * 1848 - Gretna Junction to Carlisle by the Caledonian Railway * 1850 - Cumnock to Gretna Junction opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway * 1856 - Ayr (Falkland Junction) to Maybole (Dalrymple) Junction by the Ayr and Dalmellington Railway * 1856 - Maybole (Dalrymple) Junction to Maybole by the Ayr and Maybole Junction Railway * 1860 - Maybole to Girvan by the M ...
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British Rail Class 126
The British Rail Class 126 diesel multiple unit was built by BR Swindon Works in 1959/60 to work services from Glasgow to Ayrshire and comprised 22 3-car sets and were a development of the earlier Swindon-built trainsets that had been introduced in 1955 to work the Edinburgh Waverley - Glasgow Queen St services. These vehicles formed the first Inter City service to be operated by diesel units in Great Britain. The introduction of these early diesel multiple units originated in a British Transport Commission report of 1952 that suggested the trial use of diesel railcars. BR's Swindon Works were chosen to design and build express units for the ex- North British Railway Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street route. Description The cars were of integral steel construction using the bodywork as a stressed member, as opposed to the contemporary Mk1 coach design which relied on the strength of a trussed underframe. The design featured Pullman gangways and buckeye couplings.ht ...
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British Rail Class 107
The British Rail Class 107 diesel multiple units were built by the Derby Works of British Railways and were introduced in 1960. The class looked similar to the later Class 108 units, but were heavier - having been built out of steel. Usage The Class 107s were initially built for suburban workings on the south side of Glasgow and the Class remained in BR's Scottish Region for its service life. When new, a number were used on Dundee/Arbroath services. In later years, they were used almost exclusively on services radiating from Glasgow Central to such destinations as Barrhead, East Kilbride, and Kilmacolm, and - prior to electrification - on Glasgow/Ayrshire services (especially Largs). Most were withdrawn from service by 1991. Many of the units went into departmental use after being withdrawn from passenger use. The class suffered from a structural problem, however, which could result in the bodies separating from the chassis under heavy braking. Orders Originally, there were ...
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British Rail Class 101
The British Rail Classes 101 and 102 diesel mechanical multiple units were built by Metro-Cammell at Washwood Heath in Birmingham, England from 1956 to 1959, following construction of a series of prototype units. These classes proved to be some of the most successful and longest-lived of BR's ''First Generation'' DMUs, second in longevity only to the Class 121, with the final five units being withdrawn on 24 December 2003. The oldest set was, by then, just over 47 years old. Background In 1954, British Rail published a Modernisation Plan to streamline the railway network, bringing it up to date in comparison to European standards. Steam power would be phased out in favour of diesel powered railcars and locomotives, and projects were put out to tender. BR hoped that by replacing steam with DMUs, costs would be reduced sufficiently to make rural lines viable. Since there was no time for BR to issue a standard specification, train builders were invited to submit plans on the un ...
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Inverclyde Line
The Inverclyde Line is a railway line running from Glasgow Central station through Paisley (Gilmour Street) and a series of stations to the south of the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde, terminating at Gourock and Wemyss Bay, where it connects to Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services. The line has been in operation since the 1840s between Glasgow and Greenock and was the first passenger service to follow the River Clyde to the coast. The line was electrified in 1967. History The line was opened by the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway on 31 March 1841, and initially ran from Bridge Street railway station in Glasgow to a terminus at Cathcart Street, Greenock (later renamed Greenock Central railway station), with the section between Glasgow, and Paisley Gilmour Street being run by the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway. For the first time a railway took passengers right down the River Clyde, taking about one hour where Clyde steamers took around twice as long. The terminus was ...
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British Rail Class 311
The British Rail Class 311 alternating current (AC) electric multiple units (EMU) were built by Cravens at Sheffield in 1967. They were intended for use on the line from to and , which was electrified in 1967. Appearance Outwardly, the units were virtually identical to the earlier Class 303 units built in 1960. The interiors were also very similar, including the panoramic full forward passenger view through the glass-walled driving cabs, although the Class 311 had fluorescent lighting instead of the tungsten filament bulbs used on the Class 303. The Class 303 units had been built by Pressed Steel at their factory in Linwood, Paisley, but by the time the Class 311 was required, Pressed Steel no longer built railway carriages, so Cravens of Sheffield worked to the same original drawings, updated at a few points, to build the new trains. Along with the Class 303, the wrap-around driving cab windows were replaced with flat, toughened glass in the 1970s to give better protection ...
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British Rail Class 303
The British Rail Class 303 electric multiple units, also known as "Blue Train" units, were introduced in 1960 for the electrification of the North Clyde and the Cathcart Circle lines in Strathclyde. They were initially classified as AM3 units before the introduction of the TOPS classification system, and were the dominant EMU on the Glasgow suburban railway network for over 25 years before being progressively phased out by newer rolling stock. The final units were withdrawn from service in 2002. The fleet's lifespan was 42 years. The units were later used on the Inverclyde and Argyle lines of the Glasgow suburban railway network as various electrification schemes came to fruition. Description Ninety-one 3-car units were built by Pressed Steel at Linwood near Paisley, from 1959–1961, and they were introduced into service in 1960.Gillham (1988), Chapter 19: ''25 kV for Glasgow''. A further 19 near-identical Class 311 units were built in 1967 following the Inverclyde electrif ...
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British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies, and was privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge tourist line). Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one-third of the network was closed by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On privatis ...
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Electric Multiple Unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages. An EMU is usually formed of two or more semi-permanently coupled carriages, but electrically powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as EMUs. The great majority of EMUs are passenger trains, but versions also exist for carrying mail. EMUs are popular on commuter and suburban rail networks around the world due to their fast acceleration and pollution-free operation. Being quieter than diesel multiple units (DMUs) and locomotive-hauled trains, EMUs can operate later at night and more frequently without disturbing nearby residents. In addition, tunnel design for EMU trains is simpler as no provision is needed for exhausting fumes, although retrofitting existing limited-clearance tunnels to accommodate the ...
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