Glasgow / Garnkirk Railway

Aerial view of the former Gartcosh Steelworks. Gartcosh Junction centre and site of present station bottom left.

The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway was incorporated on 26 May 1826 and was ceremonially opened on 27 September 1831.. The engineers were Grainger and Miller from Edinburgh (Thomas Grainger and John Miller).

The steam engine in the sketch has no cab for the driver and fireman, a feature of early locomotives which meant that locomotive drivers and firemen worked in all weathers.

It was extended to Coatbridge in 1843; and in 1844 it became the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway.

In 1844 it was bought by the Caledonian Railway; and in the 1921 Railway Grouping it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).

The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway

In addition to the original 26 May 1826 Act of Parliament, to raise £28,497 of joint stock capital, a further two Acts were obtained:

• 14 June 1827 to raise a further £9,350;

• 17 June 1830 to raise a further £21,150.

Its main function was intended to be the transport of coal to Glasgow; however it also provided regular goods and passenger services, particularly after the opening of Buchanan Street railway station in 1849.

It was linked to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, at Gartsherrie, near the Gargill Colliery. The chief sponsors include Charles Tennant & Co, who had their St. Rollox chemical works at Townhead, Glasgow, adjacent to the Monkland Canal. They wished to use it to import coal in competition against the Monkland Canal, which was unable to transport sufficient coal for their needs.

As early as 1842 passenger services were being publicly advertised as running to a regular timetable on the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway. The trains ran between Leaend and Townhead, calling at Coatbridge (near the site of the present day Sunnyside station), Gartsherrie, Gartcosh, Garnkirk and Stepps.

At Gartsherrie a through coach to and from Holytown and Newarthill was attached to the "morning train" from Gartsherrie to Glasgow (the timetable shows two morning trains- we shall assume it means the earlier), and detached from the last afternoon train.

No arrival time at Townhead is advertised, hence the overall journey time cannot be accurately calculated, however the pace of the journey can be deduced as (start to start times) taking ten minutes from Leaend to Coatbridge, fifteen minutes from Coatbridge to Gartsherrie (allowing time to attach the Newarthill coach), five minutes to Gartcosh, five minutes to Garnkirk and five minutes to Stepps. The times from Gartsherrie to Stepps are quite remarkable - compare it with a journey today.