The story
Before the G&SWR
In the early 1830s, there were already several mineral railways operating in Scotland; local in extent, they were mostly built to serve coal mines and other mineral activity. The successful operation of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway as an inter-city line, and then the Grand Junction Railway reaching northwards, caused railway promoters in the west of Scotland to consider that one day, there might be a through railway line to London.
The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) was authorised by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. cxvii), and opened its line to Ayr in 1840. It was a locomotive railway, and in due time it opened its branch line from Dalry to Kilmarnock, with the intention of extending to Carlisle to meet up with whatever railway might reach that city from the south. The GPK&AR had anticipated constructing its authorised line and then the extension, but by 1846 there was a frenzy of competing schemes that threatened to destroy the company's core business. Few of these were realistic, but the GPK&AR itself felt obliged to promote numerous branches, many of them tactical, in order to keep competing schemes out. This period of railway promotion was followed by a slump, when money was difficult to come by, and these factors prevented the GPK&AR from bringing its Carlisle extension into reality.
Enthusiasm for a connection to English railways continued, however, and was intensified by the promotion of other schemes to link central Scotland and England. Interests friendly to the GPK&AR formed the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway (GD&CR) to extend from the southern extremity of the GPK&AR to Carlisle; their route became known as the Nithsdale Route. Opposing promoters put forward a so-called central line via Carstairs and Beattock, that had the advantage of a shorter mileage, and the capacity to serve Edinburgh directly, but the disadvantage of much heavier gradients and running through a less populous area. This route became known as the Annandale Route.
The GD&CR was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclxxii), but the rival Caledonian Railway (CR) had already had authorisation for building its line on the Annandale route; the GD&CR's financial position led it to abandon its intention of building an independent line to Carlisle, and it altered its plan so as to join the CR at Gretna Junction, relying on negotiating running powers for its trains to reach Carlisle.
The GD&CR and the GPK&AR formed the definite intention of merging; at first the GD&CR demanded terms that were excessive, particularly as their own financial situation was weak: they were funding construction of their line with money loaned by the GPK&AR. However more realistic expectations emerged later, and by the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclxxii) and the Glasgow and South Western Railway Incorporation Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. clxxxiii) it was determined that the two companies would merge when the GD&CR had completed construction of its line. The GPK&AR extended as far as Horsecleugh (between Cumnock and New Cumnock) and the GD&CR reached an end-on junction there, completing the through line on 28 October 1850.
The G&SWR formed
Accordingly on 28 October 1850 the G&SWR was formed. Although this was described as a merger, the reality was that the penniless GD&CR was dissolved, its operation was taken over by the GPK&AR, and the latter company changed its name to the G&SWR. The GPK&AR had been working the GD&CR's line for it since it (partially) opened.
The new company had lines:
from Bridge Street in Glasgow to Ayr; the Ayr station was north of the river, at Newton-on-Ayr), and the section between Bridge Street and Paisley was owned and operated jointly with the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway; and
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from Dalry Junction to Gretna Junction via Kilmarnock and Dumfries; and
a number of lines in mineral districts, including the former Kilmarnock and Troon Railway, now upgraded to contemporary technical standards.
The trains on the Dumfries line now ran through to Carlisle, an arrangement having been made with the Caledonian Railway (CR) to permit this. However the CR did not encourage the G&SWR and only on 1 March 1851 was a booking clerk given accommodation at Carlisle Citadel passenger station. This was granted on an undertaking that the G&SWR would never interfere with the business of the CR or the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, and tolls were charged for use of the line from Gretna, and for bulk goods passing through Carlisle, whether transshipped or not. The CR ensured that all traffic between south of Carlisle and Glasgow or Edinburgh was routed over its own line.
The accounts for the first half-year, produced in March 1851, showed gross income for the six months to be £87,186 and a 2.25% dividend was declared. The company owned 72 engines, 171 passenger coaches, and 2,416 non-passenger vehicles. Good enough as the results were, the long main line to Gretna was not producing much, due to the dominance of competing route of the Caledonian Railway, and business in general declined following the first half-year. A pooling agreement was finalised in 1853 which mitigated some of the worst toll charges, but routing of goods traffic via the CR was made obligatory in many situations. The agreement included a comprehensive limitation on encroachment by either railway into the other's territory.
Expansion by alliance
In the years immediately following the formation of the G&SWR, the shortage of capital meant that no definite steps were taken for further expansion. Local initiatives were encouraged, however, with the G&SWR providing some funding and in most cases working the line when it was completed.
The Ayr and Dalmellington Railway Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. cxlviii) was passed on 4 August 1853. At this time the G&SWR Ayr station was north of the River Ayr, and the A&DR was to run from Falkland Junction, a short distance north of the station, and round the east side of the town. The new line had an Ayr passenger station (a temporary structure at first), but it was less convenient than the old terminus; until January 1860 the old G&SWR terminus station continued to be used by some trains. There were important ironworks owned by the Houldsworth family, and ironstone and coal deposits, in the lands near Dalmellington. The independent A&DR company was worked by the G&SWR and later absorbed on 1 August 1858.
On 10 July 1854 the Ayr and Maybole Junction Railway was authorised to reach Maybole by a junction from the Ayr and Dalmellington; the junction was to be called Maybole Junction, but was named Dalrymple Junction when the line opened to goods traffic on 15 May 1856. Passenger opening was delayed until 2 August 1856 because of the Board of Trade inspecting officer's dissatisfaction with the works at first. This line too was worked by the G&SWR.
There were discussions of a further extension railway to reach Girvan and develop the harbour there, possibly as a ferry port for Ireland: a Maybole and Girvan Railway was formed in 1855; it got its authorising act of Parliament, the Maybole and Girvan Railway Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. xcix), on 14 July 1856. All of these local initiatives received the promise of cash support from the G&SWR. The Maybole and Girvan line opened on 24 May 1860; the old Maybole station, east of Redbrae, was unsuitable for an onward route and was by-passed, the new passenger station being at Culzean Road.
The Ardrossan Railway had long been allied to the G&SWR and by the Ardrossan Railway Transfer Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. clxxxii) of 24 July 1854 it was vested in the G&SWR, effective on 1 August 1854. The line ran between Ardrossan Harbour and Kilwinning, with mineral branches extending further east.
Reaching towards the north of Ireland
The wide space of countryside west of Dumfries and south of Girvan still lacked any rail connection. In 1856 a provisional Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway (CD&DR) was gaining momentum. It was independently sponsored, although it was seen as a possible first step in opening up the entire region; it was authorised on 21 July 1856. This prompted the G&SWR to relocate the Dumfries station to a point north of St Mary's street; the former "temporary" station was relegated to goods status. The new station opened on 13 September 1859: it was described as "equal if not superior in lightness and beauty to any in Great Britain". The CD&DR line opened on 21 July 1856.
For many years schemes had been put forward to reach Portpatrick. There was a small harbour there and ferry crossings to Donaghadee provided the shortest route to reach the north of Ireland. Mail, cattle, and soldiers had been conveyed that way, but reaching Portpatrick with a railway across difficult and sparsely populated land had been a challenge. Encouraged by the CD&DR authorisation, at the end of 1856 promoters resolved to build a British and Irish Grand Junction Railway, 62 miles (100 km) from Castle Douglas. Government assurances were given about the use of the sea route for mail and improvement of the tiny harbour at Portpatrick, and suddenly rival railways including the English Great Northern Railway were hastening to put up money for a share. With a capital of £460,000, the line looked well supported and got its act of Parliament, the Portpatrick Railway Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. cxlix), on 17 August 1857, retitled the Portpatrick Railway.
The construction, through difficult terrain, went ahead, and as completion became near, the Portpatrick Railway planned the arrangements for the working of its line. The G&SWR were working the CD&DR and offered to work the Portpatrick line for 72% of gross receipts. The G&SWR had recently announced that it worked its own railway for less than 38%, and the Portpatrick line decided the proposed charge was too much; on 28 March 1860 they decided that "the board should retain the working of the line under their own management". The G&SWR had been certain that its terms for working the line would have to be accepted; it had promised a further £40,000 towards the capital cost of the Portpatrick Railway, and on a pretext it now declined to make that payment, further alienating the Portpatrick Railway. The line opened, stoutly independent, on 12 March 1861 as far as Stranraer.
The government had implied a promise to improve the tiny harbour at Portpatrick and was now delaying; the Portpatrick Railway delayed too, but finally completed the line from Stranraer to Portpatrick on 28 August 1862. Although some use was made of the route, the anticipated major sea crossing never materialised, and in time Stranraer became the more important port.
The Paisley and Renfrew line
Before the existence of the G&SWR, its predecessor, the GPK&AR had acquired the Paisley and Renfrew Railway, a horse-operated railway with track on stone blocks, and the GS&WR acquired this line. By 1866 the primitive technology had become an embarrassment and pressure from the Burgh of Renfrew caused the G&SWR to upgrade the line to locomotive haulage, converting it to standard gauge, and connecting it to the main joint line at Greenlaw, east of Paisley, and facing Glasgow. The work was completed by September 1867 and through passenger trains between Glasgow and Renfrew were instituted.
Crossing the Clyde, and a central Glasgow station
As traffic increased, dependency on the Bridge Street station as the G&SWR Glasgow station became ever more strained, and a nominally independent central terminus was proposed; this would involve constructive the first railway bridge over this part of the Clyde—there had previously been no connection across the river in Glasgow. The G&SWR and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway (E&GR) were partners, and invited the Caledonian Railway (CR) to join in, but the CR declined.
The City of Glasgow Union Railway (CGUR) obtained authorisation in the City of Glasgow Union Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. cclxxxvi) on 29 July 1864; the capital was £900,000 with the G&SWR and the E&GR taking one-third of the shares each. (The following year the two existing companies agree to take all the stock themselves.) The line would run from a junction with the Paisley joint line at West Street to Sighthill on the E&GR, with a new passenger station at St Enoch, a large goods station in land vacated by the University of Glasgow and a connection at West Street to the General Terminus goods branch on the bank of the Clyde.
Construction was slow and costs overran heavily; on 12 December 1870 the first trains ran from Shields Road to a temporary central passenger terminus at Dunlop Street. On 1 June 1871 the line was extended to Bellgrove, joining the North British Railway (NBR) there, and forming the north–south connecting link, which was heavily used for transfer goods trains.
It was not until 1 May 1876 that St Enoch station opened and through trains to London ran from there. The station was universally regarded as magnificent, and in 1879 the accompanying St Enoch Hotel, the largest in Scotland, opened too. By now the NBR enthusiasm for a general central passenger station had waned, and the northwards exit from St Enoch station was only used by local G&SWR trains to Springburn. On 29 June 1883 the station and the immediate approach lines were transferred from the CGUR to the G&SWR.
This was followed by partition of the CGUR; the section south and west of College Junction (near High Street, NBR) went to the G&SWR, and the section north and east of Bellgrove went to the NBR. These changes were enacted on 29 June 1883.
In the 1890s it became obvious that expansion of St Enoch was essential, and on 18 August 1898 the Glasgow and South Western Railway Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. clix) for the extension of St Enoch station was passed. A second arch roof and six further platforms were built; they were brought into use progressively from 1901. The extension was completed in 1904, at a cost of £2.5 million.
A direct line to Kilmarnock
The GPK&AR had declined to give Kilmarnock a direct route; it opened its line via Dalry in 1843. In 1848 the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway (GB&NDR) opened from a South Side terminus in Glasgow. The line was friendly to the Caledonian Railway. In 1865 both the Caledonian Railway and the G&SWR obtained acts of Parliament, the Crofthead and Kilmarnock Extension Railway Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. cxxxix) and the Glasgow and South-western Railway (Kilmarnock Direct) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. lxxiv), giving them authority to build lines from Glasgow to Kilmarnock. Shareholders of both companies objected to the wasteful duplication, and the Caledonian and Glasgow and South Western Railways (Kilmarnock Joint Line) Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. xcviii) was obtained for the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway (GB&KJR), owned jointly by both companies, running from Neilston on the GB&NDR. It opened in 1873, with a branch from Lugton to Beith. A connection into the St Enoch line was opened shortly afterwards.
Other new lines proposed, and existing branches absorbed
As well as supporting the City Union line, in 1864 the G&SWR proposed a large number of branch lines, most of them tactical in respect of competition with the Caledonian Railway. This caused considerable disquiet among shareholders—the same was true within the Caledonian company—and some moderation of the proposals took place. As part of the rapprochement, the G&SWR was granted permanent powers to run between Gretna and Carlisle, for £5,000 a year.
Under the Glasgow and South-western Railway (Amalgamations) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. ccxcviii), four railways were absorbed, effective from 1 August; they were the Bridge of Weir Railway (from Elderslie, opened in 1864), the Maybole and Girvan Railway (described above; it had never made money and had run out of cash to finish the buildings and ancillary works on the line); the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway (CD&DR); and the Kirkcudbright Railway. The CD&DR and the Kirkcudbright Railway were now operated as the Kirkcudbright branch as a single unit from Dumfries. The Caledonian Railway was granted running powers between Dumfries and Castle Douglas for trains it ran between Lockerbie and Stranraer.
Reaching Greenock
From the outset, Greenock had been served by the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway, allied to the Caledonian Railway. The port developed and carried increasing volumes of goods, and passenger traffic for the Clyde ferries grew considerably. The G&SWR wished to secure a share of this valuable traffic, and the Bridge of Weir Railway had been a move in that direction. The friendly Greenock and Ayrshire Railway (G&AR) was heavily supported (£300,000 out of £350,000 share capital) by the G&SWR, and opened its line from Bridge of Weir to its Albert Harbour station at Greenock, in 1869. This gave a quayside transfer to steamers at Greenock, and a price war with the established CR line broke out, eventually resolved with a traffic sharing agreement: the G&SWR received 42.68% of receipts.
In 1872 the G&AR was absorbed by the G&SWR. The Greenock Harbour Trustees further developed Albert Harbour, constructing Princes Pier with extensive berthing facilities for steamers, and the G&SWR renamed their own station Princes Pier in 1875.
Further extension to the harbour facilities took place at the eastern side of Greenock, at Garvel. The G&SWR built a connecting line eastwards from Lynedoch, opening on 5 August 1886. G&SWR trains had to reverse twice to reach the harbour on a steep incline. The branch cost £262,467.
The Annbank lines
In 1870 and the following years, a network of lines was opened connecting Ayr with mineral-bearing districts in east Ayrshire. The first line was from Ayr to Mauchline through Annbank, and this was followed by a long loop from Annbank to Cronberry on the Muirkirk line, and a connection to Holehouse Junction on the Dalmellington route. Although the Mauchline connection facilitated some passenger journeys, mineral traffic was more important than passenger operation on these lines.
Extending to Largs
Ardrossan had long been reached, but the G&SWR wished to extend up the coast to Largs. It experienced resistance at first, the Largs Branch opened in stages between 1878 and 1885, with stations at West Kilbride, Fairlie and Largs.
A Fairlie Pier station was opened: the station roof was built using materials recovered from the temporary Dunlop Street station. Bitter and destructive competition for the ferry traffic to island locations developed.
Portpatrick again—or Stranraer
The G&SWR had reached Girvan in 1860 with the help of allied local companies. Continuing from Girvan to Portpatrick, for the crossing to the north of Ireland was still an aspiration, but this section was the most difficult, and sparsely populated terrain. After some false starts, friendly promoters put forward a Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway (G&PJR) obtained the Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. ccclviii) on 5 July 1865 to close the gap. Raising money, and carrying out the construction was much more difficult than expected. The railway was to reach Stranraer by joining the Portpatrick Railway at Challoch Junction, continuing over that line for 10 miles (16 km). However the Portpatrick line was being worked by the Caledonian Railway (CR), and the CR was hostile to the G&PJR, which it saw was an ally of the G&SWR.
From Wikipedia’s article on Glasgow and South Western Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4