Caledonian Railway
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAL : Caledonian Railway
- This is about the historical Scottish railway company; for the modern preserved line see Caledonian Railway (Brechin).
The company was formed in the 1830s to link local railways around Glasgow and Edinburgh to the railway network in England, at Carlisle. It sought to open the only cross-border main line (it was thought that only one main line was needed).
Its empire was then extended to cover the triangle: Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh; and later reached out to serve Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen.
In the Scottish Lowlands it competed against both the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and the North British Railway; but, in the case of the G&SWR, not north of the River Clydepre-Grouping Atlas. There was little or no competition above Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen; this area was served mainly by the Highland Railwaypre-Grouping Atlas.
The Caledonian Railway was grouped into the London Midland and Scottish Railway, in 1923, by the Railways Act 1921.
Early history
The earliest railways in Scotland and England were unconnected. Before the Caledonian railway, the quickest journey between Glasgow and London would have been Glasgow to Liverpool by sea and then Liverpool to London by train. However, from March 1841 it was possible to catch the train between Glasgow and Greenock, then travel between Greenock and Liverpool by sea; and then to London by train (see below) Thomas.From about 1838 the London and Birmingham Railway had linked those two destinations; the Grand Junction Railway linked Birmingham to Warrington; the North Union Railway was projected to reach Preston; and the Grand Junction Railway intended to extend the line to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. They got their engineer Joseph Locke to survey a route from Carlisle. The obvious way was to follow Thomas Telford's coach road through Annandale and ClydesdaleThomas, 137 - 141. He did not believe a locomotive could climb the hills at Moffat and his preferred route was a longer route through Nithsdale to link up with the Glasgow, Paisley Kilmarnock & Ayr RailwayThomas, 137 - 141 . However Locke was persuaded to resurvey the Annandale routeThomas, 137 - 141.
This route was opened up as a railway line: The Caledonian Railway. The Caledonian wished to ensue that it was the only railway line built between Carlisle and Scotland, but they did not succeed with this intent. Two other lines were opened from Carlisle: these rival lines were the Glasgow and South Western Railway to Glasgow and the Waverley Line to Edinburgh.
After the Caledonian main line opened in 1849 it was possible to travel between London and Glasgow, by express train, without needing to change trains. It cut the total journey time to 12.5 hoursThomas, 137 - 141.
The Main Line
This runs from Carlisle, via Annandale, Beattock and the Clyde valley, to Glasgow. The original Glasgow terminus was, however, at Buchanan Street; it remained the Glasgow terminus until 1897. A junction at Carstairs feeds the branch to Edinburgh.
The main line from Carlisle was opened as far as Beattock on 9 September 1847Awdry, Page 64. The section from Beattock to Edinburgh opened on 15 February 1848; and the section from Beattock to Glasgow, Buchanan street, opened on 1 November 1849 for passengers and on 1 January 1849 for goods. The final section of the journey was initially via Monklands, on the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge railway, which had opened in 1831.
The main line from Carlisle to Glasgow, (but now to Glasgow Central station) is still in use today, although quite a few of the original Caledonian railway stations have closed. It is now the northern section of the West Coast Main Line; the southern section being the former London and North Western Railway.
The original stations between Carlisle and Carstairs were: Rockcliffe, Floriston, Kirkpatrick, Gretna, Kirtlebridge, Ecclefechan, Lockerbie, Nethercleugh, Wamphray, Beattock, Elvanfoot, Crawford, Abington, Lamington Symington and Thankertonpre-Grouping Atlas. Of these, only Lockerbie is still in use, and the Lockerbie-Carstairs section is still the longest stretch of UK railway uninterrupted by a station.
The line from Carstairs to Edinburgh (Glasgow to Edinburgh via Carstairs line) is also still in use today, but the Edinbugh terminus of the Caledonian railway at the west end of Princes Street has closed and the line diverts to former North British Railway Edinburgh Waverley railway station at the other end of Princes street. The railway hotel building which formed the street frontage of the Edinburgh Princes Street Station was well known as the Caley Hotel, and is still in use today as a hotel.
The main line at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green was the site of the Quintinshill rail crash, which occurred on 22 May 1915 Rolt, 207 - 213 . Two rival lines connected to the Caledonian Railway near this point: the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway, at Gretna, later to become the Glasgow and South Western Railway, and still in use today as the Glasgow South Western Line; and the North British Railway's Waverley Line, currently closed in its entirety.
Another branch of the Caledonian railway at Lockerbie, known as the Dumfries, Lochmaben & Lockerby Railway (NB: this is not a spelling mistake), lead to Dumfries, with intermediate stations at Lochmaben, Shieldhill, Amisfield and LocharbriggsAwdry, Page 72. The line opened on 1 September 1863, with Caledonian Railway backing, and it was bought by the Caledonian Railway on 31 July 1865.
The Caledonian gained running rights over the Glasgow and South Western Railway between Dumfries and Castle Douglas; and hence from Castle Douglas to Portpatrick, Stranraer and Stranraer harbour over a jointly owned line, the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Joint Railway, which was formed on 6 August 1885Awdry, Page 99. This allowed the Caledonian to run Irish boat trains from the south without having to go though Ayrshire.
A branch, the Moffat Railway, just over one mile and 5 furlongs long, ran between Beattock and MoffatAwdry, Page 94. It was opened on 2 April 1883 and was taken over by the Caledonian, by Act of Parliament, on 11 November 1889.
In 1873 the Caledonian Railway finally obtained a Act to build a railway bridge across the Clyde, and initially planned to widen Glasgow Bridge and use part of this; however, their plans were changed in 1875, when a new Act was obtained to build a separate railway bridge. A, four track, railway bridge was built by Sir William Arrol across the Clyde. By 1879 construction work had been completed on Glasgow Central station and Bridge Street station was also rebuilt. The Caledonian Railway mainline services to London were transferred from Buchannan Street station to Central Station. Bridge Street station however remained the terminus of the Caledonian Railways Clyde Coast services until Central Station was rebuilt 1901 - 1905. It then closed.
To be expanded
To be added
To be added
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.Branches in Dumfries and Galloway
A branch of the Caledonian railway, known as the Solway Junction Railway, at Kirtlebridge, led down to Annan and crossed the Solway Firth, by a 1,940 yard (1,791 metre) viaduct, to Bowness-on-Solway and WhitriggAwdry, Page 103. The line was opened, with Caledonian Railway backing, completely by 8 August 1870. The Scottish part was bought by the Caledonian Railway on 5 August 1873; and the whole line on 6 July 1895. It joined up with the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. This line sought to bring iron ore, hematite, from Cumberland to the Lanarkshire steelworks. It was successful, but the iron ore started to run out by the end of the 19th Century.Clyde Coast branches
On 9th July 1847 the Caledonian amalgamated with the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (GP&G); which allowed it to gain access to coastal shipping services at Greenock and to enter into direct competition against the G&SWR's shipping services. The section between Glasgow and Paisley, the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, which opened in 1841, was jointly owned with the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&A) (later to become part of the G&SWR). Both the GP&G's and the GPK&A's Glasgow terminus was Bridge Street station, adjacent to the River Clyde; and this remained so for another 60 years due to difficulties in obtaining agreement from the Admiralty to build bridges over the Clyde. The Central Scotland lines
Argyle and Perth
Callander and Oban Railway
The Callander and Oban Railway was an independent railway company but it was supported by the Caledonian RailwayAwdry, 64 - 65. The Caledonian railway company ran the train services, but the line remained independent until it was taken over by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at Grouping. An extension from Connel Ferry to Ballachulish was authorised on 1 August 1896 and opened on 24 August 1903.See also
Notes
External links
References
Major constituent railway companies of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway:
Caledonian |
Furness |
Lancashire & Yorkshire |
Glasgow & South Western |
London and North Western |
Midland |
North Staffordshire
(Full list of constituents)
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.