The Slamannan Railway.

Opened: 1840:
Route: From Ballochney Junction near Airdriehill Quarry to Causewayend via Slamannan.
Original Gauge: 4'-6"
Date of Gauge change to standard gauge: Completed 27th July 1847
Subsequent Ownership.
To Monklands Railway Company: 14th August 1848
To North British Railway: 31st July 1865
To London and North Eastern Railway: 1923
To British Railways: 1st January 1948
Passenger Stations: (Within Monklands)

Status:

Section: from	To	Opened	Closed
Whiterigg (End of Ballochney Railway)	Causewayend	5th August 1840	Passenger: 1st May 1930 Freight 1st September 1949
Causewayend	Manuel Junction	17th March 1851	Passenger:  1st May 1930 Freight:
Manuel Junction	Bo'ness	17th March 1851	Passenger: 7th May 1956  Freight: 19th July 1965 (from Kinneil)  Reopened as Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway:

Notes: Original route closed throughout. The Scottish Railway Preservation Society reopened the section between Manuel Junction and Bo'ness station in 1982, follow the link for full details of that line.

With the emergence of the "Upland Railways" from 1828 onwards,  the Monkland and Kirkintilloch quickly formed a comfortable association, without any formal bonds, with the Ballochney, the Slamannan and the Wishaw and Coltness Railways. The emergance of the large, predatory companies - the Caledonian and the North British, led to the need for closer ties in order to deal with these companies, indeed between 1844 and 1846 had it not been for the intervention of parliament the Monkland companies would have been taken over by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, a move which if it had gone ahead would have resulted in the railway map of Scotland being radically different! The Caledonian would have not been able to acquire the strategically important Wishaw and Coltness and Glasgow Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railways and therefore would have had to construct it's own route into Glasgow and to the North. On the 14th of August 1848 the M&K formally amalgamated with the remaining independent companies, the Ballochney and Slamannan Railways to form the Monkland Railway Company.

This is an 0-4-0 tender engine built by R & W Hawthorn in 1855 for the Monkland Railway Company, initially for use on the Blackstone Junction to Bathgate Line.  The locomotive was withdrawn in 1888 (J. L. Stevenson Collection)

Once the Monkland Railway Company was formed it embarked on a further expansion in 1855 to the East towards Bathgate and Armadale and South to Calderbank Iron Works.  The latter branch left the Clarkston Branch at the appropriately named Calderbank Branch Junction.   The Monklands Iron and Steel Company owned the Calderbank Iron Works and collieries in the Armadale area, but getting coal from Armadale to Calderbank required in a journey via Bathgate, Blackstone Junction (near Avonbridge), Slamannan, Rawyards and Clarkston before accessing the Calderbank Branch, including three reversals. In 1861 therefore the "new line" was completed from Armadale to Kipps, with branches to tap into further colliery districts, in this case around Caldercruix and Plains. Initially this route was double track betwen Greenside Junction and Airdrie, but single track beyond Airdrie.  To simplify things the table of stations/opening and closing dates is included in the N.B. section.
 
 

The new line was much more heavily engineered, with an impressive viaduct over the course of the South Burn at Coatdyke.  The viaduct is very similar in design to viaducts on the Glasgow and Edinburgh Railway.	Further up the line towards Airdrie the line crosses the main Coatbrige to Airdrie road.  The present  bridge is definately not the original, however I have yet to discover any information on the original, or why and when it was replaced.

A later expansion to the system was the North Monkland Railway in 1872, which is described in the appendix to "Scottish Railway Locomotives", as "A Junction line connecting Ballochney and Slamannan Railways With Branches".  Judging by the 1955 1" to the mile O.S. map this would appear to be the branch from Kipps Junction which swung north passed Glenmavis, Rigghead, Greengairs (junction with the branch from Dykehead Junction), then on to join the Slamannan Railway between Longriggend and Slamannan. I am assuming that this line was used for freight traffic only.

The Glasgow Garnkirk and Coatbridge.

Opened: to Gartsherrie 1831, extended to Coatbridge 1843 and Whifflet 1845..
Route: From Glasgow (Townhead) to Whifflet.
Original Gauge: 4'-6"
Date of Gauge change to standard gauge: 1847
Subsequent Ownership.
To Caledonian Railway, 1st January 1846
To London, Midland and Scottish Railway, 1923
To British Railways: 1st January 1948
Passenger Stations:

Status:

Section: from	To	Opened	Closed
Glasgow (Townhead)	Milton Junction	27th September 1831	Passenger: 1849 Freight: 24th July 1968
Milton Junction	Gartcosh Junction	27th September 1831	Open to Passenger and Freight
Gartcosh Junction	Gartsherrie South Junction	27th September 1831	Passenger: 5/11/1962*  Open to Freight
Gartsherrie South Junction	Coatbridge Central	1843	Open to Passenger and Freight
Coatbridge Central	Whifflet South Junction (Wishaw and Coltness)	1845	Open to Passenger and Freight

*The section between Gartcosh Junction and Gartsherrie Junction was re-opened between 3rd May 1976 and ??/??/???? while the London (Euston) to Fort William sleeper was using that route.

Notes: The line is still in use between Milton Junction and Whifflet.  The Junctions at Whifflet and Gartsherrie, plus details of Coatbridge Central Station are on their own separate pages.

The Wishaw and Coltness.

Opened: 1834 to Holytown, 1844 throughout
Route:  From Whifflet to Mossend and on to Coltness Iron Wks.
Original Gauge: 4'-6"
Date of Gauge change to standard gauge: 1847
Subsequent Ownership.
To Caledonian Railway: 1846
To London, Midland and Scottish Railway: 1923
To British Railways: 1st January 1948
Passenger Stations: None within the Monklands district

Status:

Section: from	To	Opened	Closed
Whifflet South Junction	Mossend	23rd January 1834	Open for passenger and freight

Notes: The section relevant to this area is still in use. This line featured the other tunnel referred to in the M&K section, it was a short stretch of tunnel just to the south of the present day A8 trunk road.  The tunnel was later opened out and the deep cutting which can be seen at the north end of Mossend Yard was created.

The Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge.

Opened: 1878
Route: From Hamilton to Shettleston, With a branch from Bothwell to Coatbridge.
Subsequent Ownership.
To North British Railway: 01/08/1879
To London and North Eastern Railway: 1923
To British Railways: 1st January 1948
Passenger Stations:

Status:

Section: from	To	Opened	Closed
Junction with  Monkland and Kirkintilloch at Whifflet	Bothwell  Castle	Freight: 1st November 1878 Passenger: 1st May 1879	Passenger: 10th September 1951.  Freight: 10/07/55 (full closure not officially until 06/06/1961)
Rosehall Branch	Rosehall Colliery	Freight: 1st November 1878	Freight: 1944(?) some track still in place 1955.

Notes: This line was conceived by the local ironmasters as an alternative route into the collieries of the Hamilton area but from completion was worked by the North British and not surprisingly was soon absorbed by that company .
The passenger service over the section between Sunnyside Junction and Whifflet South Junction, the service from Bothwell, is show as being withdrawn on the 10th of September 1951, but the intermediate station at Whifflet (:LNER) had been closed in September 1930.  Some books erroneously give the closure date of Coatbridge Central (LNER) as 1930.
The line is closed throughout, and little trace of the formation is visible beyond the sidings at Sheffield Rollmakers Meadowside Foundry.  An underbridge to the south of Coatbridge was adapted to carry the southbound carriageway of the A725 Bellshill Bypass under the old Bellshill road (this is why the road here is slightly narrower than a standard carraigeway, as anyone who has attempted to overtake an articulated lorry on this stretch will have discovered).  The line of the branch into the northern part of the Rosehall colliery can be traced by the open ground that splits the Shawhead area of the town and an underbridge which took that branch below the main A725 was opened out to form a pedestrian underpass
When the last mine in the main Rosehall pit complex closed in February 1944 the run down of the line began. Rosehall North Junction signalbox was the first to go in March 1943 and Rosehall South followed at the end of August 1945.  Two days later the route was reduced to single track on the 2nd of September 1945 with the closure of Whifflet Central and Carnbroe Signalboxes.  With the Shawhead "Glen" colliery closing in 1955, there was no further useful purpose for the route, and the remaining freight services were withdrawn on the 10th of July 1955. although the track remained in place for a further six years until official closure on the 6th of June 1961.  Even beyond that date the track was still intact at least as far as a small yard at the junction of the Rosehall branch as late as June 1962, as this yard was being used as a locomotive dump at that time. A view of this yard can be seen in the appropriately named book  ".....And Gone Forever", by Colin Gifford
 

KEY  1 R.B. Tennants (Sheffield Rollmasters) Meadow Works)  2 Bridge from which the left hand photograph shown below was taken  3 Route of Caledonian Main Line  4 Main A725 Whifflet to Shawhead Road  5 Site of Carnbroe Junction (Where Locomotive Dump was sited  6 River Calder  7 Course of Rosehall Branch  8 East Shawhead Industrial Estate  9 Main A8 Glasgow to Edinburgh Trunk Road and site of the "Glen" mine (last in Coatbridge)

View looking South from the private road bridge to the rear of Meadow Works (Reference 2 above).  The cutting is barely recognisable as the course of an old railway	A rather dark view of the up "Clansman".  The G.B.H&C crossed the Caledonian Main Line around where the locomotive is in the picture