The Faslane Branch was a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

military railway built during World War II to serve "Military Port No.1" at

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

, west of Glasgow in Scotland. Latterly, the branch was used to serve the

ship breaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...

activities at Faslane.

Route

The Faslane Branch diverged west from the LNER's West Highland Railway at "Faslane Junction", beyond which was a group of exchange sidings and a locomotive shed. Northwards from here, the single line crossed a bridge, then was

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

all the way to Faslane Bay. Faslane Platform stood near the junction from 1945 to 1949 serving the PoW camps that supplied labour for the Loch Sloy Hydroelectric Scheme at Inveruglas. Near the 1 milepost was the level crossing at Shandon, where the railway crossed the road leading to Shandon station on the West Highland Railway. Sprung catch points were installed in the Up (southbound) line just south of the crossing on account of the gradient which fell steeply towards Faslane. Near the 2 milepost, there was a quarry siding on the east side of the line, and a further set of catch points in both running lines. A little further north was Belmore Crossing, where the railway crossed the A814 road. A

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

stood just north of the crossing, on the east side of the line. The branch line ended at Faslane Bay, where an extensive layout of sidings was provided. The furthest extremity of the branch terminated alongside a platform.

Operation

Unusually for a British railway, right-hand running was in force over the double track, to familiarise the War Department personnel with the conditions that they would be likely to encounter while serving in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

Rationalisation and closure

In April 1946, when Faslane ceased to be a military port, the running and maintenance of the branch line was taken over by the LNER, although it continued to be owned by the War Department, and subsequently the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. The branch was reduced to single track on 30 May 1946, after which all trains would use the former Down (northbound) line. Catch points were installed in the single line just south of Shandon crossing.

Signalling

Originally, the railway had

block posts A block post in railway signalling is the signal box at one end of a block section. German practice In Germany, block posts are known as ''Blockstellen'' (abbreviation: ''Bk'') and are defined as railway facilities on the open line that mark the ...

at Faslane Yard, Shandon L.C., Belmore L.C. and Faslane Bay. The

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

and

semaphore signals Railway semaphore signal is one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore ...

at each location were worked from ground frames, with the exception of Belmore, where a

was built to house the lever frame (comprising 7 levers) and gate wheel. The three block sections were worked by the absolute block system. From 1946, the single line was worked on the 'One Train Working' principle, with a train staff.

References

{{reflist * Article in "British Railway Journal" No.43 (Autumn 1992).

External links

Military Port #1 Railway on 'RailScot' website
Industrial railways in Scotland Military railways in the United Kingdom Closed railway lines in Scotland Railway lines opened in 1941 Railway lines closed in 1983 1941 establishments in Scotland 1983 disestablishments in Scotland