Coatbridge & Airdrie (The Monklands) Page 3 - North British Consolidation

The North British Railway.

New sections built after absorbtion of constituent companies

Route: Glasgow (College) to Coatbridge (Sunnyside Junction).
Subsequent Ownership.
To London and North Eastern Railway: 1923
To British Railways: 1st January 1948
Passenger Stations:

The Glasgow to Airdrie route was opened between Glasgow (College) and Sunnyside Junction in 1871 and along with the Monklands Railway Company's "New Line" to Bathgate (1862) and the Bathgate and Edinburgh (1849) competed a through route from Glasgow to Edinburgh.   In 1846 the Glasgow Airdrie and Monklands Junction Railway Company had gained an act of parliament to build a line between Glasgow and Coatbridge along roughly the same route as the North British, but the proposal was abandoned after much wrangling over the site of the Glasgow terminal.

Electrification

The section of line line between Glasgow and Airdrie was electrified as part of the Glasgow North Electrification Scheme and electric trains started running on the 5th of November 1960, but were discontinued on 19th December following the discovery of potentially lethal defects in the electrical switchgear control. With most of the steam locomotives used for the passenger services (mainly V3 2-6-2 tanks) already transferred away from sheds such as Kipps and Parkhead, there was a scramble to find suitable locomotives and stock to run a substitute service.  Electric services resumed ten months later.

Away from the suburban traffic, the line was always a secondary route from Glasgow to Edinburgh, having steep gradients and sharp curves which the magnificently engineered Falkirk route made a point of avoiding.  Indeed the section between Airdrie and Bathgate was originally built as single track, and the North British didn't get round to doubling the track until between March and October 1904.  It was never really intended as a "inter-city" line, having been built piecemeal by the different companies, and timetabled passenger services took considerably longer than the Falkirk route.  It relied on freight, mainly coal, to sustain its existence, and as the coalfield was worked out and the mines closed, so the line became a likely candidate for closure.  Towards the end of its life, the company car trains to and from the British Leyland light truck factory were the only regular users of the route, although there was an Indian Summer between 1973 and 1974 when large quantities of shale were removed  from the famous bings of West Lothian by rail to Glasgow to be used in the construction of the M8 motorway.  This caused the transfer of several class 25's from English depots, which became the last locomotives to be regularly stabled at Bathgate.  Around this time there was also one last opportunity to travel over the line by regular passenger trains as the route was used for Sunday diversions while the main Glasgow Edinburgh route was being upgraded. After that the route was reduced to single track from the 16th of December 1979, then the central part between Bathgate and the sidings for the Inverhouse distillery were the first to be closed and lifted on the 15th of February 1982. Finally when the distillery ceased rail borne freight in December 1985 the track lay disused beyond Airdrie, -  only to be brought back to operational standard as far as Drumgelloch three and a half years later.

Bathgate regained passenger services to and from Edinburgh in 1986, and plans to reopen the remainder of the line have not been dismissed, especially with the growth of open cast coal mining in the region. All structures remain intact and the formation is used as a cycle track.

Coatbridge Town Centre Developments

As noted in the Monkland & Kirkintilloch section, the local ironmasters "encouraged" the North British Railway to embark on improvements to the M&K route through the town centre to avoid increasing congestion at the level crossing over the main Glasow to Airdrie road. These improvements were completed in 1872, the centrepiece being the impressive girder bridge over the main road.  Associated works included the contruction of a new general goods depot named Coatbridge Canal and the Passenger Station (see Coatbridge Central).
The diversionary works resulted in a need for an alternative route to the various companies which crowded the banks of the Canal from the town centre to Coatdyke (see photograph below). The line to to these works (originally a private line owned by Bairds) had left the old formation of the M&K at the level crossing and since this was not now accessible, a new line, called the Sheepford Branch, was built from Langloan East Junction. Like many other goods branches, when the factories they served closed down, the branch closed also, and as can be seen from the table, many of the original iron works closed in the first quarter of the 20th century.  Initially the engineering works which replaced them retained rail access, but by the late 1950's the last works using the line, the Clyde Tube Works, ceased production. The track was cut back to just beyond Sheepford Goods Depot which had by then become the main domestic coal concentration depot for the area, and this remained intact into the 1980's.  Today the course of the line is virtually untraceable except for the Locks Street underbridge.

Key Number	Description	Open	Closed	Current Land Use
1	North British Iron Works	1868	1927	After closure became a Greyound Track but this was re-developed in the 1970's.  Currently the South Asda car park
2	Scotia Iron Works	1857	1897	Coatbridge Southern Orbital Road
3	Clifton Iron Wks.	1861	1913	ditto (click on image to see full detail)
4	Phoenix Iron Wks.	1861	1921	ditto
5	Coats Iron Wks.	1854	1913	Became a tube works, then site occupied by British Reinforced Concrete Factory.  This factory still standing but closed.
6	Stewart & Clydesdale			Car Showroom built on site
7	Crown Iron Wks.	1874	1913	Pettigrew's Printing Works built on site.
8	Clyde Tube Works		1950's	Demolished after Stewarts & Lloyds transferred production to Corby.  William Lawson & Sons Whisky Bottling plant now on this site
9	Sheepford Boiler Wks.		1950's	Lay derelict for many years before being demolished.  Now "Capone's" Paint & Wallpaper Warehouse
10	Coatdyke Foundry			Currently B&Q DIY retail outlet
11	Rochsolloch Iron Wks.			Part of this building is remarkably still standing, and has probably the last square section chimney in the area.
12	Quarry
13	Mine			Muddy field with stagnant pond
14	Garturk Park (Mine?)			Municiple Sewage Works.  Retained a siding until 1950's

 

Aerial view and associated map of the heavily industrialized area around the Monkland Canal in the Coatdyke district. The map is dated 1912 and the photograph is probably a few years later.  The Caledonian line can be seen on the viaduct at the top right hand corner of the photograph with the (by now disused) canal curving underneath the viaduct. The sidings in the middle of the photograph are part of the Sheepford Branch  The Industries which can be seen are (top to bottom) 1. Rochsolloch Iron Works 2. Coatdyke Foundry  3. Scotia Chemical Works  4. Thomas Hudson's Sheepford Boiler Works  5. The Clifton Chemical Works (appears to be derelict in the Photograph) 6. Stewarts & Lloyds Clyde Tube Works.   Almost buried behind the clutter of the modern commercial development is the small bridge which carried Locks Street over the Sheepford Branch.  The site of Sheepford Locks on the Monkland Canal is marked by this stone The two buildings outlined in red are still in existence, "A" is the former All Saints primary school, now reduced to a single story and last used as a night club "B" is very much still in existence as "Big Owens Bar", the authors one time regular watering hole.  Locks Street cuts across the centre of the photograph

 
 

A modern footbridge has been built on the site of the overbridge which carried the Sheepford Branch over Coatbank Street.  The road has been widened to dual carraigeway so all that remains of the old bridge is the eastern brick abutment which can be seen under the steelwork of the new bridge