General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway

Legend

General Terminus Quay

Princes Dock Joint Railway

Scotland Street Junction

Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway

City Union Line

Polloc and Govan Railway

Glasgow Central

Muirhouse North Junction

Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway

Muirhouse South Junc. | Strathbungo Junc.

Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway

Cathcart District Railway

The General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway was authorised on 3 July 1846 and it opened, in part, in December 1848.^[1]

Its main function was intended to be the transportation of coal from collieries and Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, over other railways, to a coal depot on the south bank of the River Clyde.^[2]

It linked the Polloc and Govan Railway with the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway, the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway and the Clydesdale Junction Railway.

On 24 July 1854 parts of the line were vested with the Caledonian Railway; and final amalgamation occurred on 29 June 1865.^[1]

In the 1921 Railway Grouping it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).

The route

From its terminus at the River Clyde, the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway proceeded to Scotland Street Junction, where one branch crossed under the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway to join the City Union Line at Port Eglinton Junction. The other branch crossed under both the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway and the Paisley Canal Line; before splitting at Terminus Junction. One branch joined the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilson Direct Railway and the Cathcart District Railway at Muirhouse Central Junction, the other branch passed through one of the Eglinton Street Tunnels and joined the Polloc and Govan Railway.

Expansion under British Railways

In 1954, as part of their development of their Ravenscraig steelworks, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Colvilles Ltd and British Railways began installing new wharfage and facilities at General Terminus Quay.^[3] This was to allow the simultaneously unloading of two large ships carrying bulk iron ore.^[3] The ships were designed to hold 12,000 tons (12,200 metric tonnes) of iron ore.^[4]

Iron ore was to be transported, in bulk, by railway, from the River Clyde to the Lanarkshire steel works at, Motherwell. In March 1949, forward plans by Colvilles suggested that the General Terminus Quay ore handling facility would be handling two million tons of basic iron ore per year. 1,020,000 tons per year for the Clyde Iron Works and 980,000 tons for Ravenscraig steelworks.^[5] In 1954, Scotland imported 1,436,000 tons (1,460,000 metric tonnes) of iron ore, mainly from Sweden, North Africa, and Newfoundland.^[3]

Run down and redevelopment

The opening of the deep water Hunterston Ore Terminal, near West Kilbride, in the early 1970s led to The General Terminus Quay ceasing to handle this traffic and the ore handling equipment was demolished in the early 1980s.

A large area of the river frontage, including part of Windmillcroft Quay, Springfield Quay, General Terminus Quay, Mavisbank Quay and Princes Dock, was cleared in the early 1980s. Mavisbank Quay and the mostly infilled Princes Dock area was used to host the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival. The former Glasgow Garden Festival site was relatively quickly redeveloped after the end of the six month festival; however the General Terminus Quay site was left vacant. It has since been used for housing and nearly all traces of the railway line have been removed between the River Clyde and its passage under the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway.

References

Notes

1 2 Awdry, Page 75
↑ Thomas, Chapter VIII: Glasgow
1 2 3 Campbell, R.H. Iron and Steel. Chapter 5 in: Cunnison and Gilfillan
↑ Sleeman. The Present System: The Port of Glasgow To-day. In Chapter 10 of: Cunnison & Gilfillan
↑ Payne (1979), page 309.

Sources

Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063.
Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
Cunnison, J. and Gilfillan, J.B.S., (1958). The City of Glasgow (The Third Statistical Account of Scotland, Volume V). Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
Little, M., (1979). Greater Glasgow's Railway Network. In: Scottish Transport, 33, Scottish Tramway Museum Society. ISSN 0048-9808.
Payne, Peter L. (1979). Colvilles and the Scottish Steel Industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-828278-8.
Smith, W.A.C (compiler). and Thomas, John (Introduction), (not dated, but pre-1982). Rails Around GLASGOW. Scottish Steam Railtours Group (printed in Paisley).
Thomas, John (1971). Scotland: The Lowlands and the Borders (A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 6). Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5408-6.

Railway Clearing House. Pre-grouping Railway Junction Diagrams, 1914. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1256-3.

External links

RAILSCOT on General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway

Historical Scottish railway companies

Primary companies	Caledonian Railway Glasgow and South Western Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Highland Railway North British Railway

Caledonian Railway	Aberdeen Railway Alloa Railway Alyth Arbroath and Forfar Busby Railway Cathcart District Clydesdale Junction Crieff Junction Crieff and Comrie Crieff and Methven Junction Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Dunblane, Doune and Callander Dundee and Perth Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Forfar and Brechin General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Garnkirk and Glasgow Glasgow Central Railway Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Greenock and Wemyss Bay Hamilton and Strathaven Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Leadhills and Wanlockhead Lesmahagow Railway Lochearnhead, St Fillans and Comrie Paisley and Barrhead District Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Polloc and Govan Rutherglen and Coatbridge Scottish Central Scottish Midland Junction Scottish North Eastern Solway Junction Symington, Biggar and Broughton Talla Railway Wishaw and Coltness Lines built by the Caledonian Railway Balerno line CR Cleland and Midcalder CR Main Line CR Douglas Branch CR Hamilton Branch CR Hamiltonhill Branch CR The Switchback Independent lines worked by the Caledonian Railway Callander and Oban Killin Railway

Glasgow and South Western Railway	Ardrossan Railway Ardrossan and Johnstone Ayr and Dalmellington Ayr and Maybole Junction Ayr to Mauchline Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Barrhead Branch Bridge of Weir Railway Cairn Valley Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Castle Douglas and Dumfries Dalry and North Johnstone Darvel Branch Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Greenock and Ayrshire Kilmarnock and Troon Largs Branch Maidens and Dunure Maybole and Girvan Paisley and Renfrew Paisley Canal Line

Great North of Scotland Railway	Aberdeen and Turriff Aboyne and Braemar Alford Valley Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Boddam Branch Deeside Denburn Valley Formartine and Buchan Inverury and Old Meldrum Junction Keith and Dufftown Moray Coast Morayshire St Combs Light Railway Strathspey Railway

Highland Railway	Buckie and Portessie Branch Dingwall and Skye Duke of Sutherland Findhorn Railway Fortrose Branch Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Inverness and Aviemore Direct Inverness and Nairn Inverness and Perth Junction Inverness and Ross-shire Kyle of Lochalsh Extension Perth and Dunkeld Sutherland and Caithness Sutherland Railway Independent lines worked by the Highland Railway Dornoch Light Railway Wick and Lybster Light Railway

North British Railway	Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Anstruther and St Andrews Railway Ballochney Bathgate and Coatbridge Blane Valley Border Counties Railway Border Union Railway Campsie Branch Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock Company Charlestown Railway and Harbour Company Coatbridge Branch Devon Valley Railway Dunfermline and Queensferry East of Fife Railway Edinburgh and Bathgate Edinburgh and Dalkeith Edinburgh and Glasgow Edinburgh and Hawick Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway Edinburgh and Northern Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Esk Valley Eyemouth Railway Fife and Kinross Railway Forth and Clyde Junction Gifford and Garvald Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Glasgow City and District Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Kelvin Valley Railway Kincardine Line Kinross-shire Railway Kirkcaldy and District Railway Leadburn, Linton and Dolphinton Leven Railway Leven and East of Fife Railway Macmerry Branch Monkland and Kirkintilloch Monkland Railways Montrose and Bervie Mallaig Extension Newburgh and North Fife Railway (worked by NBR) Newport Railway North Berwick Branch North British, Arbroath and Montrose Peebles Railway The St. Andrews Railway Stirling and Dunfermline Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Slamannan Slamannan and Borrowstounness Wemyss and Buckhaven Railway West Highland Railway West of Fife Mineral Railway Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness

Joint lines	Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction City Union Dundee and Arbroath Darvel and Strathaven Glasgow and Paisley Joint Glasgow and Renfrew District Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint

Other lines	Brechin and Edzell District Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway Dundee and Arbroath Hagdale Chromate Railway Invergarry and Fort Augustus Lealt Valley Diatomite Railway Lochaber Narrow Gauge Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Rothesay and Ettrick Bay Light Railway Skye Marble Railway Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway

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