Carmyle
Carmyle is a suburb in the east end of Glasgow, north of the River Clyde. Carmyle railway station which opened in August 1866, closed in 1964 but re-opened again in 1993, is on the Whifflet Line, it is an 2-platform halt. Trains run to Glasgow Central and Rutherglen from Westbound Platform 1, to Mount Vernon, Bargeddie and Whifflet from Eastbound Platform 2; the service is operated by Abellio ScotRail. The village has a regular bus service to Glasgow City Centre, The Forge Shopping Centre and Cambuslang; the village is close to the M74 motorway giving easy access to Scotland's Central Belts, the Borders and beyond. Construction on the extension project, extending the M74 from Carmyle to Glasgow City Centre, began in May 2008 and was completed in 2011. Due to its physical isolation from the main built-up areas of Glasgow, Carmyle has something of a rural village character as opposed to a neighbourhood in a city; the River Clyde runs to the south of the district, opposite the Westburn district of Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire – the banks were connected by Westburn Viaduct, a disused rail bridge, but that has now been blocked off.
The closest Glasgow suburbs to the north are Mount Vernon. Carmyle as a place name appears as a gift of the lands by Herbert, the Bishop of Glasgow to the Cistercian Abbey of Neubotle; this abbey had been established a few years by David I, whose mother, the saintly Margaret, Queen of Scotland and wife of king Malcolm III Ceanmore, had done so much to sow the seeds of Christianity in early Scotland. The name Carmyle is derived from Gaelic and translates as "the bare cairn"; the reason for this may not be too difficult to find. Most of the land north of Carmyle and Tollcross was forest and brushwood, giving excellent cover for wild animals, but the strips of land alongside the river banks were rich for cultivating. Therefore, the lands in and around Carmyle were cleared at an early date, so as to give room for successful agriculture. "Bare town" would be quite appropriate in the circumstances. The village has within it a residence of the Verona Fathers, in the property once known as Carmyle House.
Following on its becoming an attribute of the church through Bishop Herbert, the district was confirmed to the monks from time to time by succeeding kings and popes. A note appended to the transcript of a papal bull, dated 1263, shows that the monks had ceased to be owners, for the time being. How the change occurred is explained in a charter granted by John Cheyam, Bishop of Glasgow, on 11 June 1268, it appears that the bishop had, with his own money and with the help of Sir Reginald of Irewyn, Archdeacon of Glasgow, purchased, or redeemed, the land of Kermil. Being zealous for the increase of divine service in Glasgow Cathedral, he dedicated the property for sustenance of three chaplains or priests, to celebrate divine service in the Cathedral for the souls of the predecessors and successors of Archdeacon Reginald. Bishop John's pious arrangement, seems to have been disregarded by Robert Wishart, the succeeding bishop, his interference led the chapter to appeal to the Pope in 1275, for redress.
The bishops of Dunblane and Argyle were commanded by the Pope to investigate the matter, but the final outcome was never documented. The district and village were known by various names, we've come across Carmyld, Kermil, Neddyr Carmyle, Overe Carmyle and Wester Carmyled; the name Hutchesoune was applied to the district called Nether Carmyle, having been added in or about the year 1579, to the lands now owned by Thomas Hutcheson. His two sons were the founders of the school in Glasgow, bearing their name; the current Carmyle Church of Scotland situated in Carmyle Avenue was built in 1907, costing an estimated £2,500. The Church was formally opened with a dedication service held on Thursday 7 March 1907, performed by the Rev. Alex White, D. D. of St Georges, Edinburgh. As well as weekly services the church is used by the local community for Brownies and Toddler groups and a regular thrift shop. Carmyle Church is a linked charge with Kenmuir Mount Vernon Church of Scotland on London Road with the one minister serving both congregations.
Both Carmyle and Kenmuir are linked via a parish grouping with Sandyhills Church of Scotland. Services are held at Carmyle Church every Sunday at 12:00pm. Like so many other areas in the west of Scotland, the Reformation and foundation of the Protestant Reformed Kirk saw the complete removal of the Catholic faith from Carmyle and the land transferred into secular hands, it was not until 1829 and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 that punitive laws against Catholicism were relaxed and the old Church begin to re-establish itself in Scotland. There had been an influx of Catholics from the Highlands as well as from Ireland during the progress of the Industrial Revolution and this was reflected in the growing population of Carmyle. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that numbers increased to the extent that the area warranted provision independent of St. Joseph’s Tollcross parish, of which it had until formed a part. From March, 1954 the priests of St. Joseph’s used the local Welfare Hall to provide services to the Catholics of Carmyle, with the parish being established under the patronage of St. Joachim in July.
Carmyle Mains Steading farm on River Road was obtained and from a state of dereliction was transformed into a Chapel Hall over a 10-month period to June, 1955 by the local folk. Progress continued apace and a new church was bu
Glasgow Central Railway
The Glasgow Central Railway was a railway line built in Glasgow, Scotland by the Caledonian Railway, running in tunnel east to west through the city centre. It was opened in stages from 1894 and opened up new journey opportunities for passengers and enabled the Caledonian Railway to access docks and industrial locations on the north bank of the River Clyde. An intensive and popular train service was operated, but the long tunnel sections with frequent steam trains were smoky and heartily disliked; the network paralleled the North British Railway routes in the area, after nationalisation of the railways the line declined and was closed in stages from 1959 to 1964. In 1979 the central part of the route was reopened as an electrically operated passenger railway, the Argyle Line; the Argyle Line section is in heavy use today. In 1845 the Caledonian Railway was authorised to build its line from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Carlisle; this was a main line railway, with no thought of local travel within the cities.
By acquiring interests in other lines, the Caledonian soon had three terminal stations in Glasgow: Buchanan Street, South Side, Bridge Street. None of these was convenient to the city centre for passengers, goods to and from shipping on the River Clyde was carted through the streets; the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway terminated at Queen Street, a cramped terminal convenient for the city but with no access to the quays. The Caledonian set about getting access to the Clyde at Broomielaw by sponsoring the nominally independent General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway which constructed berthing a short distance downstream from Glasgow Bridge on the south side, built a railway to it from Gushetfaulds; the construction was finished by December 1848 but it connected to the Clydesdale Junction Railway, only completed the following year. The General Terminus represented considerable progress in bulk handling of minerals, but it was still limited in capacity, as the vessels had to lie alongside the bank, the improvements to the navigation of the Clyde had not yet been completed.
Nonetheless the General Terminus had an effective monopoly of rail-borne export of minerals for many years. At this period the rapid industrialisation of Glasgow led to an influx of workers into the city centre: Glasgow became "the second city of the British Empire" and the more affluent moved to suburbs: Charing Cross and the Botanic Gardens area. There was still no recognisable suburban railway. In 1858 the Glasgow and Helensburgh Railway opened its line from the E&GR at Cowlairs, on the north-east of Glasgow, looping round to the north and running north of the Clyde to Dumbarton and on to Helensburgh; the circuit round the north of Glasgow was a roundabout route but it succeeded in connecting Dunbartonshire into the railway network. The company was absorbed by the E&GR in 1862 and the E&GR was itself absorbed to form the North British Railway in 1865. Accordingly, the Caledonian was losing out to a bitter competitor. In 1870 the City of Glasgow Union Railway bridged the Clyde and the so-called "bus trains", frequent services with spaced stops, were instituted.
The City Union Line was a joint scheme between the NBR and the Glasgow and South Western Railway, another competitor. From 1872 the Clyde Trustees undertook an ambitious project to build a large dock at Stobcross, on marshland on the north bank downstream; this became the Queen's Dock, it opened in 1874. The North British Railway built a connecting line to it, leaving the GD&HR line at Maryhill and running south and east, it took a wide circuit to reach Stobcross because of contours and housing development. This was the Stobcross Railway. Traffic started on 20 October 1870, it formed an important goods artery for NBR; the Caledonian Railway were granted running powers to reach the dock from Sighthill, a long and difficult transit over NBR tracks, the NBR placed every obstacle in the way of the Caledonian. Next the NBR sponsored another nominally independent company, the Glasgow and Clydebank Railway, which left the GD&HR line near Jordanhill and ran to industrial locations shipyards, on the Clyde.
It opened in 1882. The Glasgow City and District Railway was promoted by the NBR, to build a through east to west sub-surface line connecting the Coatbridge line and the Dumbarton line, it opened in 1886 and although expensive to construct, it was an immediate success. The North British Railway now had a decent suburban network in Glasgow and on the North bank of the Clyde, the Caledonian had nothing; the Caledonian had to do something, an independent engineer, Charles Forman, proposed a solution: a Glasgow Central Railway should be built on an east-west axis, connecting Maryhill in the north west of the city with Dalmarnock, on a short branch from Rutherglen on the main line, in the south east. It would run through the city centre south of the NBR line and have station facilities at the Caledonian's Glasgow Central terminal, as well as giving direct access to Stobcross and the Queen's Dock, still an important dock area; the Caledonian thought this was a good idea, encouraged the development of the scheme.
At this time the line that became the Liverpool Overhead Railway was being designed. The solution of building an urban railway over the streets in the central area seemed attractive and cheap, on that basis the Glasgow Central Railway obtained Parliamentary authorisation on 10 August 1888. Business interests and public opinion in Glasgow only now realised what was being proposed, a considerable outcry.
Abellio ScotRail
Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, is the Dutch-owned national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of Abellio, it has operated the ScotRail franchise since 1 April 2015. In November 2013, Transport Scotland announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, MTR Corporation and National Express had been shortlisted to bid for the new ScotRail franchise. In October 2014, the franchise was awarded to Abellio; the franchise will operate for 7 years with a 3-year extension available contingent on performance criteria being met. Abellio began operating the franchise on 1 April 2015 and it opened the Borders Railway on 6 September 2015. In June 2016, the RMT union announced that train guards would be going on strike several times during the summer months in protest at more driver only trains. Six 24-hour and three 48-hour strikes were held on ScotRail services during June and July 2016. An agreement was reached in September 2016, it was agreed that the new Class 385 trains will have the doors controlled by both the driver and guard, with the driver opening the doors and the guard closing them.
On 20 January 2017 the Managing Director of ScotRail and the ScotRail alliance stepped down from his role after 18 months in the company. Within a few days Alex Hynes was named as the new Managing Director. Abellio ScotRail took over all of the services operated by First ScotRail on 1 April 2015, except for the Caledonian Sleeper services, which were transferred to a separate franchise operated by Serco; the franchise agreement requires the introduction of'Great Scottish Scenic Railway' trains on the West Highland, Far North, Borders Railway and Glasgow South Western lines. Steam special services are promoted by Abellio ScotRail. Current off-peak services are as follows. Abellio ScotRail operates 352 stations in Scotland. Not included are Glasgow Prestwick Airport station and operated by the airport, as well as both Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central, which are managed by Network Rail. Abellio ScotRail operates Lockerbie though none of its services call there, it took over management of Dunbar operated by Virgin Trains East Coast, in June 2015.
Abellio ScotRail's fleet is maintained at Edinburgh Haymarket, Glasgow Eastfield, Glasgow Shields Road, Corkerhill Glasgow Yoker, Ayr Townhead and Inverness as well as a newly built EMU stabling depot at Millerhill in Midlothian. Abellio ScotRail operates a diverse fleet of EMUs and loco-hauled stock. From Sunday 10 December 2017, Class 380 EMUs were introduced onto services between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Falkirk High; this was the first step in creating an electric service between the two cities, now expected to start in October 2018 with Class 385 EMUs, which should have entered service in December 2017, but have been delayed due to a windscreen fault. Abellio ScotRail began operations with the rolling stock below transferred from First ScotRail: Abellio ScotRail has mentioned the following as part of the future rolling stock. Abellio ScotRail were meant to introduce a brand new fleet of 46 three-car and 24 four-car Class 385 electric trains from December 2017, to operate services on the lines being electrified as part of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme.
However, due to infrastructure problems, issues with the trains involving software and windscreen issues, their introduction was delayed until September. In the meantime Abellio ScotRail hired 10 Class 365 units from Great Northern. If Abellio is granted a three-year optional franchise extension, it will order a further 10 three-car Class 385 units. From October 2018, Abellio ScotRail introduced former GWR HSTs on services between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, branded as "Inter7City" in reference to Scotland's seven main cities; the Mark 3 coaches, up to 40 years old, were intended to all have refurbished interiors and are fitted with powered doors. There will be 26 sets: 9 four-car trains; as with the Class 385’s there have been delays getting the refurbished trains into service. As a result a considerable number have been pressed in to service without refurbishment to allow for others to have refurbishment completed; this new rolling stock will result in ten Class 156, eight Class 158 and 21 Class 170 sets returning to their leasing companies when their leases expire in 2018.
Transport Scotland negotiated to retain an extra 13 Class 170s to support services through Fife to Aberdeen and the Borders railway. Northern will receive five of all the 158s and 16 of the 170s. In June 2018 it was announced that ScotRail will lease 5 Class 153 and reconfigure them to accommodate bikes and other outdoors sports equipment; the Class 153 will be attached to ScotRail Class 156s which will operate the line from Summer 2019 travelling between Glasgow, Fort William and Mallaig and may be introduced on Northern lines between Inverness, Kyle of Lochalsh and Wick. Media related to Abellio ScotRail at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Ravenscraig steelworks
The Ravenscraig steelworks, operated by Colvilles and from 1967 by British Steel Corporation, consisted of an integrated iron and steel works and a hot strip steel mill. They were located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Motherwell was noted as the steel production capital of Scotland, nicknamed Steelopolis, its skyline was dominated by the gas holder and three cooling towers of the Ravenscraig steel plant which closed in 1992. The Ravenscraig plant had one of the longest continuous casting, hot rolling, steel production facilities in the world before it was decommissioned. Construction of the integrated iron and steel works started in 1954; the steel mill, built shortly after, was one of four in the United Kingdom. In 1992, when it closed down, it was the largest hot strip steel mill in Western Europe; the former steelworks and strip mill have now been cleared, the site is in the process of becoming the new town of Ravenscraig. On 15 February 1951, as a result of the Iron and Steel Act 1949, the nationalised Scottish iron and steel companies came under the ownership of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.
However, a change of Government and the passing of the Iron and Steel Act 1953 returned the former nationalised Iron and Steel companies to their original owners. This was to be achieved via the Iron and Steel Holding and Realisation Agency, charged with creating an efficient industry. Stewarts & Lloyds was returned to its former owners in 1954. Shortages of strip steel led to the need to increase the capacity for producing strip steel and tin plate, the first strip mill in Great Britain having been opened at Ebbw Vale in the late 1930s. A major expansion of Colvilles, the largest steel manufacturer in the United Kingdom before World War II, was approved in July 1954 by the Iron and Steel Board, it was first considered that a fourth blast furnace at Clyde Iron Works was to be built, but a shortage of coking coal in Scotland meant that concentrating iron production at Clyde Iron would stop the other Colvilles works in Motherwell from being converted to hot metal working. The new location was found and surveyed in 1953.
The name for this new site was suggested, and'Ravenscraig' was formally used from September 1954. In 1954 construction work started in Ravenscraig. By 1957 several coke ovens, a by-products plant, a blast furnace and an open hearth melting shop with three steelmaking furnaces were built, by 1959 a stripmill was complete. In 1954, as part of the development of Ravenscraig steelworks and British Railways began installing new wharfage and facilities at General Terminus Quay, on the River Clyde, near the centre of Glasgow; these facilities were designed to allow the unloading of two large ships carrying bulk iron ore. The ships were designed to carry 12,000 tons of iron ore. Iron ore was to be transported, in railway wagons, via the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway, from the General Terminus Quay to Motherwell and Ravenscraig. In 1954, Scotland imported 1,436,000 tons of iron ore from Sweden, North Africa, Newfoundland. In March 1949, forward plans by Colvilles, to justify the construction of Ravenscraig, indicated 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.
In the late 1970s, the General Terminus Quay was replaced by the purpose-built deep water Hunterston Ore Terminal, near West Kilbride, which became operational in 1978. It was designed to accept bulk ore carriers of up to 350,000 tonnes capacity. In the early 1980s the ore handling equipment was demolished at General Terminus Quay; the closure of Ravenscraig in 1992 signalled the end of large scale steel making in Scotland. It led to a direct loss of 770 jobs, another 10,000 jobs linked to these. Demolition of the site's landmark blue gasometer in 1996 and the subsequent cleanup operation have created the largest brownfield site in Europe; this huge area between Motherwell and Wishaw is in line to be transformed into the new town of Ravenscraig, a project funded by the successor company to British Steel, Tata Steel Europe
Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway
The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway was an independent railway company built to provide the Caledonian Railway with a shorter route for mineral traffic from the coalfields of Lanarkshire to Ardrossan Harbour, in Scotland. It opened in stages from 1888, being extended to Neilston and Newton, giving the Caledonian Railway a independent route by 1904. At the Ayrshire end the line duplicated the existing Glasgow and South Western Railway route at a time when bulk coal exports could be handled more economically in Clydebank, so that the primary purpose of the line was short-lived; the Caledonian Railway hoped to develop suburban traffic in south Glasgow where the new line passed through those districts, but street tramcars limited the success of this. The duplicate routes to Ardrossan were wasteful and, as traffic declined, closures took place from 1930; the eastern section from Neilston and Newton to the Cathcart circle lines developed as outer suburban railways, were electrified in the 1960s.
Those branches, as they became, continue in intensive passenger use at the present day, but are the only remaining sections of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire line remaining in operation. Ardrossan Harbour had come to increasing prominence as a coal port by 1880; however the coal was transported by rail from the pits to Gushetfaulds and handed to the rival Glasgow and South Western Railway there for onward haulage. If the Caledonian could make a railway to Ardrossan, all of this lucrative traffic would fall to them. Moreover, the towns in the area, including Saltcoats and Stevenston, as well as Irvine, were of growing importance for industrial activity and serving them would bring further passenger and goods revenue; the Caledonian Railway had earlier entertained hopes of building from the Glasgow Barrhead and Neilston Railway to the Ardrossan Railway but those plans were based on dubious share acquisition which the Caledonian could not afford at the time, that opportunity had long since been lost.
Nonetheless the GB&KJR was only six miles from the G&SWR line at one point. Closing that gap would be hugely advantageous to the Caledonian. Encouraged and supported by the Caledonian Railway, a group of promoters submitted an independent Bill for the 1883 session, it gained the Royal Assent on 20 August 1883: the Barrmill and Kilwinning Railway was authorised, it was empowered to build from the Barrmill branch of the GB&KJR line to a new junction with the G&SWR at Kilwinning. The Earl of Eglinton was the owner of Ardrossan Harbour and wished to encourage any initiative that would enhance the value of his property, he lent his support to the scheme. Encouraged by this, the company presented a Bill in the 1884 session for a much more ambitious scheme, dropping the junction with the G&SWR and making lines to Ardrossan itself, to Irvine and Kilbirnie; the 1884 Act changed the company's name to The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway. Its capital was £375,000. A further Act was obtained in 1885 authorising substantial subscription in the scheme by the Caledonian Railway, in any case going to work the line.
The Caledonian committed itself to long term carriage contracts with mineral forwarders, relying on the new line. Eglinton was made chairman of the company; the G&SWR was alarmed by this intended incursion into its territory and quoted cheap rates for coal from Hamilton and Bothwell. Robert McAlpine and Company was chosen as contractor for the construction of the line; the line from Barrmill crossed difficult terrain and had steep gradients, but from Kilwinning to Ardrossan the G&SWR was occupying the best route, the new line had to be content with an alignment behind all the towns, discouraging passenger use. The first section of the line opened from Barrmill to Ardrossan station on 3 September and 4 September 1888, although the extension works to the harbour at Ardrossan were incomplete, a temporary spur was laid in to connect with the G&SWR there at first; the Kilbirnie branch from Kilbirnie Junction, known as Giffen from 2 October 1889, was opened for goods traffic on 1 November 1889, to passengers on 2 December 1889.
Although Kilbirnie was a significant town, with a population of 3,405, the dominant feature of the branch was the ironworks at Glengarnock, situated on the west side of the G&SWR main line. The new branch crossed over the G&SWR line and there was a large siding complex at the ironworks served by the G&SWR; the passenger service operated from Kilbirnie to Giffen only, with no through trains beyond that point. At Ardrossan, the Montgomerie Pier station and steamer terminal was opened on 30 May 1890; this ignited bitter competition for the passenger traffic between Glasgow and the Clyde islands and to Belfast, with some fast through journeys being timetabled. Within one week in 1899, 677 traders and industrialists of Ayr, dissatisfied with the poor service of the G&SWR monopoly, petitioned the Caledonian to extend the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire line to Ayr; the Caledonian did not respond, the Provost, Town Clerk and a deputation of magistrates went to the Caledonian headquarters and presented a written guarantee of half the traffic of 560 traders for ten years if the Caledonian would construct the line.
The
Coatbridge
Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, about 8.5 miles east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. While the earliest known settlement of the area dates back to the Stone Age era, the founding of the town can be traced to the 12th century, when a Royal Charter was granted to the monks of Newbattle Abbey by King Malcolm IV. Coatbridge, along with its neighbour Airdrie, forms the area known as the Monklands. In the last years of the 18th century, the area developed from a loose collection of hamlets into the town of Coatbridge; the town's development and growth have been intimately connected with the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, in particular with the hot blast process. Coatbridge was a major Scottish centre for iron works and coal mining during the 19th century and was described as'the industrial heartland of Scotland' and the'Iron Burgh'. Coatbridge had a notorious reputation for air pollution and the worst excesses of industry.
By the 1920s however, coal seams were exhausted and the iron industry in Coatbridge was in rapid decline. After the Great Depression the Gartsherrie ironwork was the last remaining iron works in the town. One publication has commented that in modern-day Coatbridge'coal and steel have all been consigned to the heritage scrap heap'. There are various explanations for the origin of the town's name; the place name Coatbridge first appears on a number of 19th century maps, although Roy's 1750 map notes'Cottbrig' as a hamlet in the Old Monkland area. Older Scots'Cot' and'brig'. One source states'Coatbridge' is either derived from the Middle English'cote', or from the Old Welsh'coed' meaning'wood'. An alternative explanation is that from around the 13th century the local area was owned by the Colt family, sometimes known as Coats, their estate generated place-names such as Coatbridge, Coatdyke and Coatbank. Drummond and Smith suggest the name derives from the granting of land to Ranulphus le Colt around the time of the 12th century.
However, Early Scots /ol/ had vocalized to /o̞u/ by the 16th century and subsequently diphthongised to /ʌu/ in Modern Scots, so that'Colt' would have become'Cowt' rather than'Coat'. Modern Scots'Cot' is realized /kot/. Settlement of the Coatbridge area dates back 3000 years to the Mesolithic Age. A circle of Bronze Age stone coffins was found on the Drumpellier estate in 1852. A number of other Bronze Age urns and relics have been found in Coatbridge. An Iron Age wood and thatch crannóg dwelling was sited in the Loch at the present day Drumpellier Country Park. Dependent upon the water level in the loch, the remains can still be seen today. Roman coins have been unearthed in Coatbridge, there are the remains of a Roman road on the fringes of the town near the M8 motorway. The'Monklands' area inherited its name after the area was granted to the Cistercian monks of Newbattle Abbey by King Malcolm IV in 1162. 1n 1323 the Monklands name appeared for the first time on Stewards' charter. The Monks mined coal and farmed the land until the time of the reformation when the land was taken from them and given to private landowners.
In 1641 the parish of Monklands was divided between Old Monkland. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army seized Coatbridge from government troops on their march to Edinburgh in an action described as the'Canter of Coatbridge'. Coatbridge was described in the 1799 Statistical Account as an'immense garden' with'extensive orchards','luxurious crops' where'rivers abound with salmon'; the Monkland Canal was constructed at the end of the 18th century to transport coal to Glasgow from the rich local deposits. The invention of the hot blast furnace process in 1828 meant that Coatbridge's ironstone deposits could be exploited to the maximum by the canal link and hot blast process; the new advances meant. Summerlee Iron Works was one of the first iron. By the mid 19th century there were numerous hot blast furnaces in operation in Coatbridge; the prosperous industry which had sprung up around the new iron industry required vast numbers of unskilled workers to mine ironstone and work in the blast furnace plants.
Coatbridge therefore became a popular destination for vast numbers of Irish arriving in Scotland. The iron bars and plates produced in Coatbridge iron works were the raw materials needed throughout the British Empire for railways, bridge building and shipbuilding. One example of uses Coatbridge' iron was put to included armour plating for British ships fighting in the Crimean War. Over the course of the following forty years the population of Coatbridge grew by 600%; the character of the Coatbridge area changed from a rural, Presbyterian landscape of small hamlets and farmhouses into a crowded, Irish Catholic industrial town. In 1840, Rev William Park wrote that: One contemporary observer at this time noted that Coatbridge is'not famous for its sylvan beauties of its charming scenery' and'offers the visitor no inducements to loiter long'. However,'a visit to the large Gartsherrie works is one of the sights of a lifetime'. Most of the town's population lived in tight rows of terraced houses built under the shadow of the iron works.
These homes were owned by their employers. Living conditions for most were appalling, tuberculosis was rife. For a fortunate few though fortunes cou
Newton railway station
Newton railway station is a railway station located between the neighbourhoods of Drumsagard, Halfway and Westburn in the town of Cambuslang, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail on the Cathcart Circle Lines; the original Newton station was opened as part of the Clydesdale Junction Railway on 1 June 1849. The station served the Hamilton Branch of the Caledonian Railway, it closed on 19 December 1873 and a new station was opened 662 yards due west on the same day. The station served trains to and from the Glasgow Central Railway and the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway, though neither route survived beyond the mid 1960s - the GCR route via Carmyle closed on 5 October 1964, whilst the L&AR ceased to carry passenger traffic through to the coast as long ago as 1932, with complete closure beyond Neilston following in December 1964; the remainder still forms part of the Cathcart Circle Lines, but there are no longer any through services from here to stations between Muirend & Neilston - passengers must change at Mount Florida.
Newton station forms part of the Argyle Line 6 miles south east of Glasgow Central and is a terminus for the Cathcart Circle 10 miles south east of Glasgow Central. Newton is the location of a junction between the West Coast Main Line and the Argyle/Cathcart Circle routes; this junction was the location of the Newton rail crash in 1991 when four people were killed and 22 injured. The extant platforms are located on the former slow lines through the station; the fast line platforms were removed at the time of the Cathcart Circle electrification. To the west of the station the lines from the Cathcart Circle are joined by a link line from the WCML. To the east of the station the line splits with one line heading southeast on the Hamilton circle, link line heading towards Uddingston on the WCML; this link line contains a turnback siding. At the time of its opening, all Argyle Line trains towards Uddingston and Bellshill stopped at Newton. Since the 1990/91 remodelling Argyle Line trains toward Bellshill no longer stop at the station.
Shotts Line services via Uddingston and Intercity services pass the station on the main lines. The 2010/11 service had most Larkhall trains passing through the station without stopping. Improvements at Newton station made around 2013 include the installation of a passenger footbridge with lifts and the expansion of the car park which now contains 250 places. There is a small cairn located at the drop-off zone of the station car park erected by Pride Of Place community environmental programme in memory of the workers of the large Hallside Steelworks, located to the south of the station. Another similar memorial cairn organised by Pride Of Place is on Gilbertfield Road, commemorating the soldiers from the area who marched the route to Newton station in order to go off to war. British Railways undertook major railway electrification in the Greater Glasgow Area in the 1960s, continued by British Rail with the West Coast Main Line into the 1970s; the Slow line platforms were electrified as part of the 1962 Cathcart Circle scheme through to Motherwell via the West Coast Main Line.
The fast line platforms were taken out of use at this time. The next electrification work was part of the 1974 West Coast Main Line electrication project when the Hamilton Circle was electrified; this layout was retained when the Argyle Line opened in 1979. Following the closure of adjacent steel works and East Coast Main Line electrification, the junction layout was revised in 1990/91 to allow Fast Line trains to pass through at higher speeds, it was as a result of these revisions that single lead junctions from the Kirkhill and Cambuslang directions were installed, that contributed to the Newton rail crash. After several months a double line link was reinstated from Kirkhill. Following the opening of the Argyle Line there were three Hamilton circle trains in each way per hour and four trains per hour via Kirkhill to Glasgow Central (two via Langside and two via Mount Florida. Lanark trains ran non-stop on the adjacent Fast lines. On the Argyle Line, there are two Motherwell via Hamilton Central-bound services an hour: one an hour terminating in Motherwell and one continuing to Lanark.
There are two per hour towards Glasgow Milngavie. On the Cathcart Circle, a half-hourly service operates from Newton every day. One journey per hour goes via the other via Langside; the service on the Hamilton Circle line remains the same, with trains heading southbound to Motherwell every half-hour and northbound to Milngavie. A limited number of peak trains run to/from Coatbridge Central via Whifflet. Services on the Larkhall line do not call here, save for a few peak period trains. On Sundays the Balloch to Motherwell via Hamilton trains call half-hourly. Services on the Cathcart Circle line start & terminate here, with trains running every half-hour to/from Central High Level alternately via Mount Florida & via Maxwell Park. Additional services run during weekday peak periods; the December 2014 timetable change has seen significant alterations to Argyle Line services through the station. Trains to Motherwell still run every half-hour via Hamilton, but alternate services now continue to Cumbernauld via Whifflet rather than Lanark.
All Larkhall branch trains now call in each direction, giving four departures per hour northbound - these all now run to Dalmuir (alternately via
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National Rail
