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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, 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).
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 Neilston 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.
In 1954, as part of their development of their Ravenscraig steelworks near Motherwell, 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 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 tonnes) of iron ore, mainly from Sweden, North Africa, and Newfoundland. [3]
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.
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with a dense network of branch lines in the area surrounding Glasgow. It was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Many of its principal routes are still used, and the original main line between Carlisle and Glasgow is in use as part of the West Coast Main Line railway.
The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either Carlisle via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride.
The City of Glasgow Union Railway - City Union Line, also known as the Tron Line, was a railway company founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1864 to build a line connecting the railway systems north and south of the River Clyde, and to build a central passenger terminus and a general goods depot for the city. The through line, running from south-west to north-east across the city, opened in 1870–1, and the passenger terminal was St Enoch railway station, opened in 1876. The railway bridge across the Clyde was the first in the city.
The Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway was the section of railway line between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Paisley, in the west of Scotland. It was constructed and operated jointly by two competing railway companies as the stem of their lines to Greenock and Ayr respectively, and it opened in 1840. The Joint Committee, which controlled the line, built a branch to Govan and later to Cessnock Dock, and then Prince's Dock.
The Paisley and Renfrew railway was an early Scottish railway company that constructed and operated a line between Paisley and the River Clyde at Renfrew Wharf, enabling journeys between Glasgow and Paisley by connecting river boat. The railway was built to the track gauge of 4 ft 6 in on stone block sleepers.
The Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway was a railway jointly owned by the Caledonian Railway and the Glasgow and South Western Railway, completed in 1873, and giving the latter a shorter access to its Carlisle main line. A branch to Beith was also built.
Gorbals railway station was a railway station serving the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. The station was originally part of the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway.
The Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway was a railway owned by the Caledonian Railway, providing services between Greenock and Wemyss Bay.
The Polloc and Govan Railway was an early mineral railway near Glasgow in Scotland, constructed to bring coal and iron from William Dixon's collieries and ironworks to the River Clyde for onward transportation.
The Clydesdale Junction Railway company was formed to build a railway connecting Motherwell and Hamilton with Glasgow, in Scotland.
The Glasgow and Renfrew District Railway was nominally owned by the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway. It was incorporated on 6 August 1897 and opened on 1 June 1903.
The Cathcart District Railway was proposed to serve the arising demand for suburban residential travel on the south side of Glasgow, Scotland. It was planned as a loop running to and from Glasgow Central station, but at first only the eastern arm, to Cathcart via Queens Park, was built, opening in 1886. The western arm was opened in 1894 and trains operated round the loop. A frequent passenger train service was operated, and there was also a limited goods and mineral operation.
Hunterston Terminal, in North Ayrshire, Scotland, was an iron ore and coal-handling port located at Fairlie on the Firth of Clyde, operated by Clydeport which was taken over by The Peel Group in 2003. It lies south of Fairlie, adjacent to Hunterston estate, site of Hunterston Castle, and its jetty projects out approximately 1 mile (1.6 km), about midway into the channel between the mainland and the island of Great Cumbrae.
Pollokshields railway station was a railway station in Pollokshields, a district of Glasgow, Scotland. The station was originally part of the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway. It was opened in 1840 and amalgamated into the neighbouring Shields Road station in 1925.
The Barrhead Branch was a branch line built by the Glasgow and South Western Railway in Scotland. It connected Potterhill railway station on the south side of Paisley with a new Barrhead Central railway station. The line was sometimes known as the Barrhead Central Railway.
The Paisley and Barrhead District Railway was a railway in Scotland that ran between the towns of Paisley and Barrhead. It was intended to serve industrial premises and develop local passenger and goods business.
The Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway was a railway line in Scotland built by the Caledonian Railway to shorten the route from the Coatbridge area to Glasgow. It opened in 1865. It was later extended to Airdrie in 1886, competing with the rival North British Railway. Soon after a further extension was built from Airdrie to Calderbank and Newhouse.
The Coatbridge Branch of the North British Railway was a railway built to connect the important coal and iron industrial districts of Coatbridge and Airdrie directly to Glasgow for the North British Railway.
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 Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Railway was a railway company in Scotland, built to serve coal and ironstone pits in the Hamilton and Bothwell areas, and convey the mineral to Glasgow and to ironworks in the Coatbridge area. It was allied to the North British Railway, and it opened in 1877. Passenger services followed.