St. Rollox railway works

St. Rollox Locomotive Works and St Rollox Carriage and Wagon Works were built in 1856 in Springburn, an area in the north-east of Glasgow, for the Caledonian Railway, moving away from their works at Greenock. The new works was built on the site of the station of the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway which the Caledonian had absorbed, near to the chemical works of Charles Tennant and was named after the nearby parish church of St. Roche.

Locomotive construction

A number of locomotives were produced, among them, the "Cardean" and "Dunalastair" Classes. However, when the railway was amalgamated with the LMS new production ceased. However, the works remained the primary Scottish repair centre until 1986 when, under BREL, locomotive work in general, was being run down. However it has continued at a reduced level, and, remains the only large railway rolling stock repair and maintenance works in Scotland.

St. Rollox was unusual in being purpose built for both locomotive and carriage & wagon works. It became the main works of the Northern Division of the LMS, although new building had ceased in 1923. In 1929 wagon repairs were moved to Barassie, leaving St. Rollox as the carriage repair centre.

War work

During World War II, like the North British Locomotive Company, both Cowlairs and St. Rollox joined in the war effort, among other things, producing Airspeed Horsa gliders for the D Day airborne assault. Cowlairs also produced 200,000 bearing shells for Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.

Current use

The St. Rollox site is today operated as a rail maintenance facility by Alstom, surplus land was sold off and is now the site of a large Tesco store.

References

* Larkin, E.J., Larkin, J.G. (1988). "The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986. ' ' Macmillan Press.