The Forth and Clyde Junction Railway was a railway line in Scotland which ran from
Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
to
Balloch.
It was built with the expectation of conveying coal from the Fife coalfields to a quay at Bowling on the Clyde for onward transport, but that traffic did not materialise. The line opened in 1856; it was a simple rural line running through sparsely populated terrain, and traffic was thin.
In 1882 the
Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway made a connection with the line, using a few miles of it as part of its own route to Aberfoyle.
The Forth and Clyde Junction route lost its passenger train service in 1934, but the Aberfoyle trains continued until they too were discontinued in 1951. Goods train continued on parts of the line, but in 1965 the line was completely closed, and none of it remains in railway use.
History
First proposal
In 1845 there was a frenzy of railway promotion in Scotland; the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 4 July 1838. It was opened to passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow Queen Street railway station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street) and ...
had been opened in 1842 and shown that railways of more than purely local relevance could be successful, and many schemes were put forward. Considerable volumes of coal were being extracted in Fife. While coastwise and export shipping from east coast ports was carried on, there was a commercial need to get access to the west coast ports. A railway to make the transit to the lower Clyde was proposed, but after 1845 the money market collapsed, and nothing further was heard of the idea for some years.
A practicable scheme
![Forth and Clyde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Forth_and_Clyde.gif)
By 1850 the railway network was developing, and Stirling was becoming a focal point for railways. The
Stirling and Dunfermline Railway
The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway was a railway in Scotland connecting Stirling and Dunfermline. It was planned by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway to get access to the mineral deposits on the line of route, but also as a tactical measure t ...
opened in 1850, connecting the Fife coalfields. However, when traffic was consigned from Fife to the west coast, the S&DR, the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 4 July 1838. It was opened to passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow Queen Street railway station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street) and ...
and its associated companies were obliged to hand over the traffic to rival companies - the
Scottish Central Railway
The Scottish Central Railway was formed in 1845 to link Perth and Stirling to Central Scotland, by building a railway line to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary.
The line opened in 1848 including a branch to South Alloa. The ...
and the
Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...
- to complete the transit.
In 1851 a ''Forth and Clyde Junction Railway'' was promoted by commercial interests in Stirling to build a line north of the
Campsie Fells
The Campsie Fells (also known as the Campsies; Scottish Gaelic: ''Monadh Chamaisidh'') are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching east to west from Denny Muir to Dumgoyne in Stirlingshire and overlooking Strathkelvin to the south. Th ...
to reach the harbour at Bowling, on the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
. The line would connect with the
Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
The Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway (C&DJR) was a Scottish railway opened in 1850 between Bowling and Balloch via Dumbarton. The company had intended to build to Glasgow but it could not raise the money.
Other railways later rea ...
(C&DJR; the spelling Dumbartonshire was used by the company). The C&DJR opened in 1850 and although it had intended to reach Glasgow, its finances only permitted construction from Balloch to Bowling; the F&CJR would join it near Alexandria, in the Leven Valley.
[John Thomas revised J S Paterson, ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders'', David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1984, ]
The ''Forth and Clyde Junction Railway'' was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 4 August 1853;
[E F Carter, ''An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles'', Cassell, London, 1959][Stewart Noble, ''The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire'', The History Press, Stroud, 2010, ] the line was to be 30 miles (48 km) in length, and the trunk haul traffic, minerals westbound to the Clyde and manufactured textiles from the Leven dyeworks eastbound, was to be dominant.
Construction was relatively straightforward; the line was built as a single line, although land was acquired for subsequent doubling.
[ There were two major river crossings, of the Leven and the Endrick. The Leven bridge was a large timber viaduct, probably one of the last wooden bridges to be built in Scotland.][ (It had to be replaced by a metal bridge after about twenty years.) The Endrick crossing was a long low timber trestle.][
]
Opening
The line opened in two stages: the eastern half opened as far as Buchlyvie on 18 March 1856, followed by the western half on 26 May 1856.[Christopher Awdry, ''Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies'', Patrick Stephens Limited, Wellingborough, 1990, ]
The line had been authorised to make a south-facing connection with the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway near Alexandria, reflecting the intended trunk haulage to the Clyde. In fact the actual construction arranged the connection facing Balloch. This seems to have been done without proper authority, and the reason for the change is unclear; it may have been simply an acceptance that the through goods traffic would lay over at Balloch.[In those days, primitive lubrication of wagon bearings required attention at frequent intervals, and this may have been more simply achieved at Balloch.][
There were 32 manned level crossings on the route.][
]
The line in operation
By the time the line was open, the attraction of operating coal traffic over the line and back to Bowling had faded; there were shorter transits to better harbours on the Clyde, and the trunk traffic never materialised. Moreover, the population on the line itself was fairly limited, and some of the communities on the line were located some distance from the stations that purported to serve them. Drymen
Drymen (; from gd, Druiminn ) is a village in the Stirling district of central Scotland. Once a popular stopping place for cattle drovers, it is now popular with visiting tourists given its location near Loch Lomond. The village is centred aroun ...
station was really in the smaller village of Croftamie
Croftamie (Scottish Gaelic ''Croit Sheumaidh'') is a small village and community council area in the Stirling council area in Scotland. It lies to the south of the larger village of Drymen.
The village was traditionally part of Dunbartonshire. ...
, and Balfron
Balfron ( gd, Both Fron) is a village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is situated near Endrick Water on the A875 road, 18 miles (29 km) west of Stirling and 16 miles (26 km) north of Glasgow. Although a rural settlement, ...
(probably the largest village on the route) was not very near Balfron station. The line settled down to its role as a simple rural route, although some tourist traffic was developed.
The Dalmonach Dyeworks near Balloch sought a branch connection from the F&CJR; competitors further down the Leven Valley had connections from the C&DJR. The short branch was authorised on 1 August 1861.
The company operated the railway itself, although it hired in engine power from the Scottish Central Railway at first, but the arrangement was terminated from 7 February 1860, as the F&CJR considered the SCR's price was excessive. Locomotive power was hired in from the Scottish North Eastern Railway
The Scottish North Eastern Railway was a railway company in Scotland operating a main line from Perth to Aberdeen, with branches to Kirriemuir, Brechin and Montrose. It was created when the Aberdeen Railway amalgamated with the Scottish Midland ...
until four 2-4-0 tender engines were delivered by from the Canada Works, Birkenhead, early in 1861.[
]
Lease to the NBR
From 1865 the North British Railway
The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...
and the Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...
expressed interest in acquiring the F&CJR. Absorption by the Caledonian Railway looked promising: as well as good terms the Caledonian would upgrade and modernise the track, but Parliament refused the necessary authority.[John Thomas, ''The North British Railway, volume 1'', David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969, , page 168] The NBR withdrew an opposing Parliamentary Bill it had prepared for the purpose. The company decided to remain independent, but it agreed to lease the line to the North British Railway from 1866. On 1 August 1871 the lease was concluded; the NBR would pay 50% of gross revenue for 30 years. On 1 August 1875 the term was extended to 50 years, paying 6% on the F&CJR's capital of £106,000, rising with the potential dividend on NBR ordinary stock..[David Ross, ''The North British Railway: A History'', Stenlake Publishing Limited, Catrine, 2014, ] The company itself continued, receiving the lease charge but not operating any railway, until the grouping of railways in Great Britain in 1923.[
Part of the lease agreement was that the remaining timber bridges on the line should be rebuilt in durable materials at the expense of the F&CJR. The Endrick timber trestle viaduct was now in a very poor state, having been repeatedly damaged by ice in the river during the 1860s, and it was rebuilt with iron truss girders on stone piers.][
]
Passenger train service
The 1895 ''Bradshaw'' shows four through trains daily from Balloch to Stirling, with an additional short working from Balloch to Balfron. The throughout journey time was about two hours.[''Bradshaw's General Steam Navigation and Railway Guide'', 12th mo, (December) 1895, reprinted by Middleton Press, Midhurst, 2011, ]
The Aberfoyle line
The North British Railway sponsored a nominally independent line to reach Aberfoyle, an important town in the expanding tourist trade, and the Gateway to the Trossachs
The Trossachs (; gd, Na Tròiseachan) generally refers to an area of wooded glens, braes, and lochs lying to the east of Ben Lomond in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The name is taken from that of a small woodland glen that lies at the ...
. The line was authorised as the ''Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway''. It opened on 1 August 1882. It ran for a few miles on the F&CJR line, joining it at Gartness Junction and leaving it again at Buchlyvie Junction.[John Thomas, ''The North British Railway, volume 2'', David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1975, , pageds 127 and 128][
]
The twentieth century
The line passed into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
(LNER) in 1923.[
As early as the 1920s bus competition eroded the already limited passenger carryings on the line. The LNER tried to reduce costs of the loss-making passenger service by introducing a steam railcar, ''Quicksilver'', manufactured by the ]Sentinel Waggon Works
Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorries (steam wagons), railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries, buses and locomotives.
History
Alley & MacLellan, Sen ...
in Shrewsbury. It had a vertical boiler power plant and geared drive. However its effect on the viability of the passenger business was insignificant.[ The thin population density on the route never became sufficient to sustain a passenger service, and the line was closed as a through passenger route on 1 October 1934.][Gordon Stansfield, ''Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire's Lost Railways'', Stenlake Publishing, Catrine, 2002, ] The former Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway route, now simply the Aberfoyle branch of the LNER, remained open for passenger traffic until 29 September 1951: the trains worked over the F&CJR route between Gartness and Buchlyvie.[
]
Final closures
By 1949 the section between Drymen and Gartness was listed as "out of use", probably due to the state of the Endrick Viaduct.[ The section was formally closed on 1 November 1950. Successive closures to goods traffic followed: Buchlyvie Junction to Mye Siding also closed completely on 1 November 1950. The section from Mye Siding to Port of Menteith followed on 1 December 1952. On 5 October 1959 the sections between Gartness Junction and Buchlyvie Junction, Jamestown and Drymen, and from Port of Menteith to Stirling closed. On 1 September 1964 the short section from Croftengea Siding to Jamestown closed, and finally the Croftengea Siding stub closed on 9 April 1965. The entire route is now closed.
About 1969 a water main was erected crossing the Endrick, using the stone piers of the viaduct. A cycle path was later constructed on the route.][ The Leven viaduct near Balloch is now a pedestrian walkway.][Gordon Stansfield, ''Glasgow and Dunbartonshire's Lost Railways'', Stenlake Publishing, Catrine, 2003, ]
Topography
The line opened from Forth and Clyde Junction, Balloch to Buchlyvie on 26 May 1856, and from Buchlyvie to Stirling North Junction on 18 March 1856,. It closed to passenger services on 1 October 1934, except between Gartness and Buchlyvie, which closed on 29 September 1951.
Locations on the line were:
* ''Forth and Clyde Junction''; diverged from the Balloch to Dumbarton line;
* Jamestown; industrial line to Dalmonach Works diverged;
* Kilmaronock; renamed Caldarvan in January 1877;[At the request of R D MacKenzie of Caldarvan House, according to Noble.]
* Drymen;
* ''Endrick Viaduct'';
* Gartness;
* ''Gartness Junction''; line from Lennoxtown converged;
* Balfron;
* ''Balwill siding'';
* Buchlyvie; line to Aberfoyle diverged; it ran alongside the Stirling line for a short distance;
* ''Mye Siding'';
* Cardross; renamed Port of Monteith May 1858;[A Cardross station near Helensburgh had opened in March 1858.] renamed Port of Mentieth 1880;
* Ladylands Siding (station); opened June 1861; Fridays only at first, then Saturdays only, later Thursdays only; renamed Ladylands Platform 11 July 1927;
* Fairfields Siding (station); opened June 1861; Fridays only; also known as Fairfield; closed 20 October 1866;
* Kippen;
* Gargunnock;
* ''Stirling North Junction''; converged with Perth to Stirling line.[M E Quick, ''Railway Passenger Stations in England Scotland and Wales—A Chronology'', The Railway and Canal Historical Society, 2002][
]
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
{{Historical Scottish railway companies
Pre-grouping British railway companies
North British Railway
Early Scottish railway companies
Closed railway lines in Scotland
Railway lines opened in 1856
London and North Eastern Railway constituents