Paisley and Barrhead District Railway

The Paisley and Barrhead District Railway was a railway in Scotland that ran between the towns of Paisley and Barrhead. Despite stations being built on the line, the railway was only ever open to freight services. For this reason it was known locally as "the dummy railway".Rowand (2000)]

History

The railway was incorporated on 6 August 1897. It was vested with the Caledonian Railway under an Act of Parliament on 31 July 1902,Awdry] and subsequently became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

The plan was to form a loop (which would have included Paisley Gilmour Street, Paisley's main station) by joining the line to the Caledonian Railway's Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St. James (Walkinshaw North & South Junctions) in the west and Paisley East at a junction near Arkleston in the east. The Walkinshaw Junctions were completed but the Arkleston one wasn't.citeweb|url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Paisley_and_Barrhead_District_Railway/frame.htm |title=Railscot Paisley and Barrhead District Railway page] An embankment and a bridge citeweb|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/greenlawdrivebridge.jpg|title=Photograph: Bridge at the junction of Greenlaw Drive and Greenlaw Gardens|accessdate=2008-01-01] were constructed and the track laid but it was deliberately stopped short of the main line. Wham] citeweb|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/greenlawcrescent.jpg|title=Photograph: Satellite photo of footpath at Greenlaw Crescent, Paisley|accessdate=2007-09-21] The reason the line wasn't finished is that under Board of Trade regulations the Caledonian Railway were under an obligation to run a certain minimum number of trains per day. The advent of electric trams in 1903 made a train service financially untenable.Canadian Railways Magazine (1955)]

The line was used only once by a passenger train; a rail tour operated by the Stephenson Locomotive Society on 1 September 1951.Seller and Stevenson (1980).] citeweb|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/railpage/lastjourney.htm |title= Photographs of only passenger train journey in 1951 |accessdate=2007-10-06 ] The train started at Paisley East Goods at Cecil Street and made its way to Barrhead South returning through the west branch to Paisley Gilmour Street The Railway Magazine]

Route

Paisley and Barrhead District Railway had two branches.

West branch

This branched off the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St James and had railway stations at Ferguslie, Stanely, and Glenfield. There were also sidings to the Rootes car plant at Linwood on that branch. This section of line was used for the delivery of the Class 303 EMU which were built at the Pressed Steel plant in Linwood. Further sidings existed at Chain Road Goods Yard and Meikleriggs Goods Yard.

The branch closed in stages. Meikleriggs Goods Yard on 6 September 1954, Ferguslie Chain Road to Barrhead South on 28 October 1963, Rootes' Siding to Ferguslie, Chain Road on 30 September 1968, Paisley St James to Linwood 21 October 1984 citeweb | url = http://www.closedlines.free-online.co.uk/gb_sc_x.htm | title = Closed railway lines in Britain and Ireland - Scotland | accessdate = 2007-09-19]

East branch

This was a very costly operation which included the building of 15 bridges Canadian Railways Magazine (1955)] , an enormous wall down the length of Lacy Street citeweb|url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/coalyardlacystreet.jpg|title= Train alongside wall at Paisley East goods] , three signal boxes and two stations at Dykebar and map by entering grid reference NS502626 and from there to Blackbyres at NS502610 where it is labelled a 'dismantled railway'. citeweb|url=http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm|title=Ordnance Survey map|accessdate=2007-11-08] The line from Blackbyres to Paisley East goods closed on 31 December 1960. citeweb|url=http://www.closedlines.free-online.co.uk/gb_sc_x.htm|title= Closed railway lines in Britain and Ireland]

Central section

The two branches met at Blackbyres junction then carried on to Barrhead New station, Barrhead South station and Lyoncross Junction.RAILSCOT]

Connections to other lines

* Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway at Paisley St James
* Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway at Lyoncross Junction
* Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway at Arkleston Junction - "planned but never completed".

Current operations

The line is completely closed and sections have now disappeared under more recent developments, especially in Paisley (as noted above) and Barrhead.

Parts of the line are now a cycle track, built along the route of the trackbed from Glenburn to Barrhead. Glenfield station was at the bottom of the hill, a short distance up Glenburn Road from where the cycle track ends.

Media

On Saturday 6 September 2008, the centre pages of the local newspaper, the Paisley Daily Express were dedicated to the history of the railway showing numerous historical photographs. The article can be read online. citeweb|url=http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/local-news-in-renfrewshire/paisley-news/2008/09/06/during-the-dark-days-of-world-war-i-the-x2018-dummy-railway-x2019-was-a-lifeline-87085-21683650/|title= Paisley Daily Express article]

References

Notes

ources

*
*
* Canadian National Magazine By Canadian National Railways V. 40, no. 12 (Jan. 1955)
* Gammell, C. J. (1999). "Scottish branch lines". ISBN 086093540X.
*
* Rowand, David (1993). "Pictorial History of Paisley". Alloway Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-9075-2655-1.
* Rowand, David (2000). "Paisley". Paslet Publications. ISBN 0-9539-5991-0 .
* Seller, W. S. and Stevenson, J. L. (1980). "The Last Trains", Volume 2: "Glasgow & Central Scotland". Edinburgh: Moorfoot Publishing. ISBN 0-906606-01-2.
* Smith, W.A.C. and Anderson, P. (1993). "An illustrated history of Glasgow's railways". Irwell Press.
* "The Railway Magazine", Nov 1951 issue
* Wham, Alisdair (2000). "Lost Railway Lines South of Glasgow". Wigtown: GC Book Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1-8723-5008-9.

External links

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sealed/paisley/railpage/pbdr.htm Dedicated website with many old photographs, Google satellite images, history etc.]