Developments since 1955
 

The British Railways 1964 Summer Timetable shows the above services in operation that year.  Local trains on the lines from Buchanan Street to Coatbridge and Holytown/Hamilton had ceased in 1962 and the "services" between Coatbridge Central and Whifflet to Glasgow Central (Low-Level) were in their last summer of operation. The run-down was in an advanced state,  there continued to be only one train per day, (Weekdays only) to and from Whifflet High Level, and  a mere five trains Monday to Friday and three trains Saturday to and from Coatbridge Central.as follows.  On the 5th of October that year the remainder of the services would be consigned to the history books.  Only the late evening Perth/North to Glasgow Central remained beyond that date, and this was now running Saturdays excepted.
 

Curiously, with the withdrawal of the Glenboig service in 1956, the timetable shows  that the 07:03 service continued to start from Cumbernauld at 06:52.

The Glasgow North Electrics were now well into an established pattern of services, with four trains per hour from Airdrie, normally xx:00 and xx:30 stopping at all stations to Helensburgh Central via Singer and xx:18 and xx:48 stopping at all stations to Dalmuir Park, also via Singer.  Passengers wishing to travel to Balloch, Milngavie or stations on the Yoker line had to change at Queen Street.  Additional peak hour services usually worked to and from Partick or Jordanhill for ease of working empty stock to Hyndland depot. As a result there was a total of 77 trains to Glasgow and 75 trains from Glasgow, making the journey in 26 minutes westbound and 27 minutes eastbound.    Journey times improved with about 5 – 6 minutes sliced off the time from Airdrie to Glasgow, with the 7 minute Coatbridge Sunnyside to Airdrie allowance down to 5 minutes.  On Sundays the service was three trains per hour during the Summer with some additional trains to Balloch Pier or Craigendoran Pier to connect with cruises on Loch Lomond or the Clyde. During the Winter months the Sunday service dropped to two trains per hour, and it was not unusual for the electric service to be replaced by DMUs when maintenance work was in progress.
 
 

Main Line Services Through Coatbridge Central

The 1964 through services to and from England and the North were as shown in the left hand tables below.  By 1970, the last year of full services on the Caledonian Main line before electrification work, the daytime Perth to Euston services had been substantially cut back with services terminating/originating at Carstairs, the early evening Euston to Perth at 18:17/18:49 started at Carstairs and the 22:38/23:11 evolved into the celebrated 1S81 Carlisle to Perth.  The afternoon Crewe to Perth survived to see class 50 haulage from 1968 but was withdrawn in 1969.  Full details are shown in the right hand tables below.
 

1964: UP   Time From To 10:26 Perth London Euston 11:42 Aberdeen Manchester (SO,15th June - 22nd Aug.) 13:50 Perth  London Euston (TC from Aberdeen) 21:56 Perth London Marylebone (SX) Kensington Olympia (SO).  22:44 Perth London Euston.  On SO conveyed TC and SC from Oban	1970: UP   Time From To 11:44 Perth Carstairs - - - 22:14 Perth Carlisle - Parcels Only (Saturdays Excepted)  22:44 Perth London Euston 23:51 Inverness London Euston
1964: DOWN   Time From To 08:14 Euston Perth (Sleeper) 15:41 Crewe Aberdeen (Saturdays Excepted) 16:00 Crewe Aberdeen (Saturdays Only) 16:26 Blackpool Perth (SO 4th July to 15th August ) 18:17 Euston Perth (Saturdays Excepted) 18:49 Euston Perth (Saturdays Only) 22:38 Euston Perth (Saturdays Only) 23:11 Euston Perth (Saturdays Excepted)	1970: DOWN   Time From To 06:40 Euston Perth (Sleeper) Mondays Excepted 07:40 Euston Perth (Sleeper) Mondays Only - - - - - - 18:31 Carstairs Perth 20:45 Carlisle Perth - Parcels Only (Saturdays Excepted) - - - 23:10 Carstairs Perth

The Electrification Years

As has been mentioned already on the Coatbridge page, between 1971 and 1974 the Caledonian Main Line was completely closed during the day to allow the extensive engineering works associated with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line to take place.  Most daytime passenger trains were diverted via Kilmarnock and the Glasgow and South Western Route.  All remaining connecting services were withdrawn except the 1S81 which ran after the daytime work was finished.  During the day a bizarre service was worked from Perth to Glasgow Central in the morning and back in the afternoon calling at Coatbridge Central in both directions. The route between Coatbridge and Glasgow was either via the then freight only Rutherglen and Coatbridge or via Motherwell and the Hamilton Circle  The service was formed by a three car class 101 Met-Cammell D.M.U. and one of three single car Gloucester R.C.& W. class 122's, no's SC55013-SC55015 which had been internally stripped for parcels traffic and reclassified as class 131.  Whether the parcels traffic was the main reason for running the train or there was a statutory obligation I do not know, as, not surprisingly, it was not well patronized by passengers from the South who probably found it more convenient to cross to Queen Street.  I remember trying to buy a ticket at Glasgow Central to go on this train to Coatbridge Central and found it impossible to convince the clerk that there was a service available,- and there were certainly no tickets printed.

Specimen Timetables
 

Haulage

Steam haulage was in decline by 1964, but a wide range of locomotives could still be found on the services.  The local services to Glasgow Central not advertised as "diesel service" were in the hands of Fairburn and Stanier 2-6-4 tanks, with the BR standard 2-6-4 tank also to be seen.  The long distance trains could still produce a Stanier Pacific but Britannia and Clan pacifics became more likely as years went on.  As would be expected, Black 5s were still in widespread use on parcels and mail trains as were the Jubilees.  A feature of the Aberdeen portion of the "West-Coast Postal" was the use of Gresley Pacifics including the A4s.  There is some excellent footage of steam and diesel hauled trains passing through Coatbridge Central on "History of Scotlands Railways Volume 3" link etc here.
Once the diesels took over the variety decreased substantially, with class 25/26/27 Sulzer type 2s taking over the Perth - Carstairs services and English Electric class 40s on the remaining daytime Crewe to Perth, although this service went over to class 50 haulage from 1968.  The overnight sleepers were hauled by either class 40s or class 47s

A Day out "Doon the Watter"

As late as 1975, Monklands District Council still organised a day trip for pensioners of the district which included rail travel from Coatbridge to Gourock and a cruise to Rothesay and round the Kyles of Bute.  The 1975 trip involved two trains of Mk1 stock, one hauled by a class 25s the other by a class 37.  The route was via Whifflet, Motherwell, Hamilton Circle, Newton, Cathcart, Muirhouse Junction, Shields Junction and Paisley as the direct line from Polmadie to Shields junction was out of use following a tunnel collapse.  The M.V. Duchess of Hamilton was used for the cruise.