Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway
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The Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway was a short locally promoted branch line built to connect the industrial town of Milngavie with the main line railway network, near Glasgow, Scotland. It opened in 1863. The town, and Bearsden, an intermediate location on the line, became significant residential centres, and nowadays the line is a part of the Glasgow commuter network. No freight is handled on the line. The inventor George Bennie developed the
Bennie Railplane The Bennie Railplane was a form of rail transport invented by George Bennie (1891–1957), which moved along an overhead rail by way of propellers. Prototype Bennie, born at Auldhouse, near Glasgow, Scotland began work on the developmen ...
, a system of overhead express passenger railways, and he built a demonstration section above a dormant industrial siding that branched from the line. However Bennie was unable to attract investment to implement his scheme, and the demonstration track was dismantled in 1956.


History


An independent railway

On 28 May 1858 the
Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway The Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway was independently sponsored to build along the north of the River Clyde. It opened in 1858, joining with an earlier local line serving Balloch. Both were taken over by the powerful North British Ra ...
opened its line, running from Cowlairs, where it joined 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 ...
a short distance north of its Queen Street terminus. Milngavie was a rural town with considerable industry, especially in the textile printing and papermaking trades. The GD&HR was the first railway in the area north west of Glasgow, but the benefits of railway connection, in reducing the cost of commodities like coal and agricultural supplies, and in facilitating transport of manufactured goods to market, were plain to see elsewhere. Seeing that the GD&HR passed not far from their town, businesspeople in Milngavie determined to promote a branch line to make the connection. They obtained the authorising Act of Parliament for the Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway on 1 August 1861; the capital was £30,000.Awdry says (page 132) that the Act was procured by the GD&HR. It is difficult to see what he means by this, and it is not supported by contemporary sources. Although the district was lightly populated, high class residential travel was developing in similar situations elsewhere, and was expected to be a positive factor for the Milngavie line. The line was just over 3 miles (5 km) long and construction was not difficult; the line opened on 28 April 1863.According to Paterson, Smith and Quick; Carter and Awdry give 21 April 1863; Ross gives 20 April 1863 (page 59). Like the GD&HR, it was worked by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway for 50% of gross receipts.Paterson says it was worked by the NBR, but the NBR had no locus in the area until 1865. There was one intermediate station at Bearsden. South of Milngavie a short branch led to the Burnbrae Dye Works, and at Milngavie a long siding extended past the station to Ellangowan Paper Mills. There were a considerable number of goods sidings at Milngavie.


Absorbed by the NBR

On 28 July 1873 the North British Railway (General Purposes) Act was passed, authorising the takeover of the Milngavie line by the NBR. The line became simply a part of the growing North Clyde network of the NBR.


The twentieth century

The line had been constructed as a single line; it was doubled on 24 April 1900. Hillfoot station was opened at the same time. The North British Railway became a constituent of the new
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 ...
in 1923, following the
Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
; in 1948 the railways were nationalised and the line was under the control of British Railways, Scottish Region.


The Bennie Railplane

The inventor George Bennie developed a system known as the
Bennie Railplane The Bennie Railplane was a form of rail transport invented by George Bennie (1891–1957), which moved along an overhead rail by way of propellers. Prototype Bennie, born at Auldhouse, near Glasgow, Scotland began work on the developmen ...
; it adopted some features of the 1901 ''Schwebebahn'' in Wuppertal, Germany, the
Wuppertal Suspension Railway The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn ("Wuppertal Suspension Railway") is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. Its original name was ("Eugen Langen Monorail Overhead Conveyor System"). It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars ...
. It was a lightweight single vehicle suspended from an overhead track; the track was supported on gantries. The intention was that fast through passenger trains could be run above traditional railways, segregating them from slower traffic without an additional land take. The Burnbrae Dye Works branch had closed in 1926 and Bennie built a short demonstration section of his line above it. Publicity photographs taken at the time show a goods train below the Bennie vehicle, but the goods train was placed there for the photography, and was not actually in revenue service. (However the journalists and others were taken to the track's "station" by passenger train on the Dye Works branch.) A demonstration run for the press was arranged for 4 July 1930. The vehicle was electrically powered, driving a propeller, the only electrically powered airscrew driven suspended monorail ever to be built. The vehicle made use of lightweight
Duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...
in the structure and cladding of the Railplane, a material that, "to the best of he author'sknowledge, had never previously been used structurally in railway carriage or public service vehicle design". The demonstration track was 426 feet (130 m) long. Bennie attracted much attention for his scheme, and was a skilful publicist. However the system was not adopted in any practical application. Available documentation does not explain how junctions and crossovers were to be dealt with, and approaches to established railway managements in the UK and elsewhere resulted in the view that the system would abstract from, and not complement, the existing railway. Some free-standing routes were considered, particularly to airports, but were never proceeded with. Bennie was declared bankrupt in 1937. The railplane and its track were scrapped in 1956. The shed where the vehicle was stored is now (2015) in use by Kelvin Timber (West) Ltd adjacent to Main Street, Milngavie; a blue plaque commemorating the trial is fixed to the wall at the point where the Burnbrae dyeworks branch, and the test track, crossed.


Electrification

The Milngavie branch (as the line had become) was electrified as part of the North Clyde modernisation scheme in 1960. There are no goods facilities on the line now. The line was partly singled under the Yoker Area Resignalling in 1990.


Current operations

Passenger services currently (2016) operate as part of the
Argyle Line The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Argyl ...
group of services to/from , & , typically on a 30-minute interval, operated by
ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...
. Monday to Saturday daytimes also see a half-hourly service over the
North Clyde Line The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the ''Glasgow North Electric Suburban'' line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by ScotRail Trains. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathgat ...
to/from
Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...
via Glasgow Queen Street Low Level and .


Topography

Locations are: * Milngavie; * Hillfoot; opened 1 May 1900; * Bearsden; * ''Westerton Junction''; convergence with line from Helensburgh; originally known as Milngavie Junction. The line from Milngavie to Hillfoot and from Bearsden to Westerton Junction is single line.


Notes


References

* * * {{Historical Scottish railway companies Early Scottish railway companies North British Railway Railway lines in Scotland Transport in Glasgow Transport in East Dunbartonshire Railway companies established in 1861 Railway lines opened in 1863 Railway companies disestablished in 1873 1861 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1861 British companies disestablished in 1873