General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway

Introduction

Although General Terminus is closed, the remainder of this railway provides a useful route across the south side of Glasgow allowing freight from the Paisley Gilmour Street direction to run in the Rutherglen direction without reversal. This link passes through a tunnel and is largely in cuttings resulting in its colloquial name the 'Burma Road'.

Formerly it served the quayside facility at General Terminus on the River Clyde which replaced Windmillcroft Quay which was the waterside terminus of the Polloc and Govan Railway.





Dates

  /  /1846General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Act receives Royal assent. Line from General Terminus, a depot on the south bank of the River Clyde, to West Street Junction (Govan and Polloc Railway), Strathbungo Junction (Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway) and Shields Junction No 1 (Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway).
  /  /1846Polloc and Govan Railway Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway
Branch from the Polloc and Govan Railway to the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway authorised (superseded by the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway).
  /  /1847General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus confirmed as the River Clyde terminal, rather than other locations promoted in 1846 such as Clyde Terrace.
30/03/1849General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
West Street Junction (Govan and Polloc Railway) to Shields Junction No 1 (Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway) and General Terminus opened. Curve to Strathbungo Junction (Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway) opened.
  /  /1864General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Caledonian Railway and Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway agreement.
  /  /1864General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Doubling between Strathbungo Junction and General Terminus Junction authorised. (Described as Pollokshields to West Street Doubling (or Goods Station Branch) authorised.)
  /  /1865General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway Caledonian Railway
General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway absorbed by Caledonian Railway. Running powers are granted to the City of Glasgow Union Railway, Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, Glasgow and South Western Railway and Monkland Railways.
  /  /1870General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Scotland Street bridge widening (just north of Scotland Street Junction).
07/01/1870General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Tolls set for the Glasgow and South Western Railway between Strathbungo Junction (Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway) and Shields Junction No 1 (Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway). Either end of the line was joint Caledonian Railway and G&SWR, the intervening line was CR owned.
  /  /1875General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Line from Kinning Park Junction to Kinning Park Goods (and a connection to Shields Junction No 1) authorised (replacing an earlier proposal of 1872). (Known as the Burma Road.) Authorised as Railway No 3.
07/10/1878General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Kinning Park Junction to Kinning Park Goods opened.
  /  /1884Maxwell Junction to Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Caledonian Railway)
Approval for a Caledonian Railway owned link between Maxwell Junction (General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway) and Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway), which was to open in 1885).
25/01/1886Maxwell Junction to Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Caledonian Railway)
Line opened between Maxwell Junction (General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway) and Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway)).
  /  /1888General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Railway into the Tradeston Gas Works agreed between the Caledonian Railway and Glasgow Corporation.
20/10/1892General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Authorisation allows passenger trains to use Strathbungo Junction to General Terminus.
  /  /1958Ravenscraig Steel WorksGeneral Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus re-built for importing coal and iron ore as the facilities at Rothesay Dock and the Rothesay Dock Branch (North British Railway and Caledonian Railway) were not sufficient.
13/06/1960Polloc and Govan Railway General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Line closed to passengers between Gushetfaulds Junction and Shields Junction No 1.
  /  /1962Ravenscraig Steel Works General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Coal and Iron ore trains from General Terminus swap from steam to 2 Class 20s.
  /12/1979General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Last iron ore trains run from the General Terminus quayside. (Following the opening of the Hunterston Ore Terminal.)
10/02/1986General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus to Terminus Junction (excluded) closed.
29/01/1998General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Mossend Marshalling Yard to Falkland Yard caustic soda train derails just west of the former West Street Junction.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


West Street Junction to General Terminus

The 'main line' extended the Polloc and Govan Railway to the new General Terminus quadside depot and sidings on the south bank of the River Clyde, replacing Windmillcroft Quay a little to the east.

This junction was between the Polloc and Govan Railway's Windmillcroft Quay line (1840) and the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway (1849). The facilities at General Terminus were superior to those at Windmillcroft Quay, which it replaced entirely in 1867.
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See also
Polloc and Govan Railway


This was a large mineral depot in Glasgow, built on the site of a former brickfield. It was enclosed by the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway alignment from Terminus Junction (west) to West Street Junction [CR] (east) to the south, the City of Glasgow Union Railway to the north and Tradeston Gasworks No 3 and West Street itself to the east.
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This is a three way junction, formerly a four way junction.
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Terminus Junction looking north. Junction between the lines to Muirhouse Central Junction (nearer) and Larkfield Junction. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
GNSR 49 and NBR 256 lead the Scottish Industries Exhibition Special
...
Ewan Crawford Collection 11/09/1959
Overlooking Kinning Park Junction at Shields Road. The flyunder meets the Burma road. From left to right; Shields station (GSW, closed), Burma Road, ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
3 of 3 images.


Shields Tunnel is a twin bore tunnel, both bores built for two tracks. When built it carried two arms of the new General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway and passed under both the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal and Shields Road (which crossed over the canal by Shields Bridge at this point).
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This junction was between Terminus Junction and Scotland Street Junction on the mineral line to General Terminus. The location was overshadowed by Shields Road [CGU] station to the north of the City of Glasgow Union Railway and Shields station to the south on the Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway).
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Although the WD 2-8-0 is somewhat blurred, this picture shows some of the complexities around Glasgow's Shields Road station in July 1963. The loco is ...
Robin McGregor 03/07/1963
The 66 is at Kinning Park Junction during the works to re-lay Shields Junction. There is a tamper? further along the Burma Road. As part of the works ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2007
2 of 2 images.


This was the junction between the original General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway and a connection from the City of Glasgow Union Railway from Port Eglinton Junction (Shields Bank Signal Box also closed). The junction allowed trains from the latter line access to General Terminus from the south. The approach from Shields Bank was single track, doubling at the junction.
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See also
City of Glasgow Union Railway
The BLS 'Clydeside Wanderer' at Scotland Street Junction, just south of General Terminus, on a photo stop on 25 August 1979. ...
Roger Geach Collection 25/08/1979
Scotland Street Junction signalbox in the shade of the M8. This box controlled the exit from General terminus and the junction between the lines from ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
Looking to Shields Road along the route of the (then) recently uplifted and partly landscaped General Terminus branch. The Glasgow-Paisley line ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
3 of 3 images.


This important large mineral terminus served the General Terminus Quay on the south bank of the River Clyde.
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HR 103 has reached General Terminus, as part of Easter Rambler No 4 on 17 April 1965, and is preparing for the next part of the tour.
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Colin Kirkwood 17/04/1965
North British Railway wagon label for a wagon from General Terminus to South Leith via (where?). ...
Bill Roberton 06/02/1923
Looking south towards Scotland Street Junction over the approach to General Terminus not long after track lifting in 1987. The location was reached ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
This was the yard at General Terminus shortly after the track was lifted. The area was being landscaped to become a carpark for the Glasgow Garden ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
4 of 6 images. more





Strathbungo Junction to Terminus Junction

This allowed access to General Terminus from the Barrhead line. A link from this served the Tradeston Gas Works. Although there were coal mines on that line, the curve increased in importance when the Barrhead line was extended south to Kilmarnock.

This junction remains open. This is the junction between the main line south from Glasgow Central to Barrhead and the freight only curve to Larkfield Junction. It was once a goods junction and later the junction between the routes to Glasgow St Enoch and Glasgow Central.
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Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway
The 19.00 from Kilmarnock to Glasgow Central passes Muirhouse South Junction on 26th April 2021. 156476 is the unit.
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Bill Roberton 26/04/2021
Britannia 7MT 70009 'Alfred the Great' is nicely turned out, albeit shorn of its nameplates, as it passes Muirhouse South Junction on the 9.56am ...
Robin McGregor 19/04/1965
A Kilmarnock service passing Muirhouse South on 25 August 2018. The line to the right leads to Larkfield Junction and has no passenger services. ...
David Panton 25/08/2018
A pair of 156s creeping through the shadows onto Muirhouse South Junction off the little used link from Larkfield Junction on their way to Crossmyloof ...
Fraser Cochrane 29/12/2008
4 of 5 images. more


This junction was formed in 1879 when the Glasgow Central Station (Caledonian Railway) (Gordon Street lines) met the 1849 General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway close to Strathbungo Junction (just to the south).
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Glasgow Central Station (Caledonian Railway)
Under the Muirhouse/Strathbungo Junctions gantry (last week 05/08/1952 of lower quadrant arms). 2.6.4T 42128 on inner circle train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/08/1952
1 of 1 images.


This is a double junction opened in 1894 to complete the Cathcart District Railway. It provides a connection across the older 1849 Glasgow Harbour and General Terminus Railway to the Glasgow Central approach lines. Rather than cross that line on the level a double junction was formed.
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Cathcart District Railway
156504 and 156430 pass Muirhouse Central Junction with the 10.47 from Glasgow Central to East Kilbride, seen from the platform at Pollokshields East ...
Bill Roberton 25/02/2023
View from the open door of a Cathcart Circle line train during a stop at Pollokshields East station in August 2008. Standing beyond the retaining wall ...
John Furnevel 01/08/2008
A service from East Kilbride on the last hop to Glasgow passes the junction on 21st July 2018. Photographed from the Platform of Pollokshields East, ...
David Panton 21/07/2018
Passing Muirhouse Central Junction is a 47 hauled Carlisle-Kilmarnock-Glasgow train. Cathcart circle line in foreground. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
4 of 8 images. more


This small railway workshops was south of Muirhouse Road on the west side of the Glasgow Central approach lines. It was bounded on the west side by the Muirhouse Saw mills and the line from Muirhouse to Terminus Junction.
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See also
Glasgow Central Station (Caledonian Railway)








This is a three way junction, formerly a four way junction.
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Terminus Junction looking north. Junction between the lines to Muirhouse Central Junction (nearer) and Larkfield Junction. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
GNSR 49 and NBR 256 lead the Scottish Industries Exhibition Special
...
Ewan Crawford Collection 11/09/1959
Overlooking Kinning Park Junction at Shields Road. The flyunder meets the Burma road. From left to right; Shields station (GSW, closed), Burma Road, ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
3 of 3 images.





Shields to Terminus Junction

This link had two uses; it allowed trains from the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway to join the Polloc and Govan Railway without needing a reversal and it gave access to General Terminus, albeit via a reversal.

Shields No 1 Junction is the junction between the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway of 1840 and the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway of 1849. The latter now longer accesses General Terminus but continues in its role as a 'bypass' of Glasgow Central for freight from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire and vice versa.
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Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway
42208 passing Shields No 1 Junction on 23 May 1959 with an Ayr-Glasgow train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 23/05/1959
Fairburn 2-6-4 tank 42176 passing Shields No 1 Junction with a Glasgow - Gourock train on 5 May 1956. Built at Derby in 1948, the locomotive spent its ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/05/1956
'Jumbo' 0-6-0 57230 climbs up from Maxwell Junction to Shields no 1 with a westbound freight on 5 May 1956. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/05/1956
McIntosh 0-6-0 dock tank 56160 passing Shields No 1 Junction on 5 May 1956. The 'Beetle Crusher' is on its way home to Polmadie shed. See image ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/05/1956
4 of 4 images.


This was a complex four way largely goods handling junction around 12 tracks wide including sidings. To the west and east was the Glasgow and South Western Railway's 1885 Paisley Canal line. A 1886 Caledonian Railway connection to the north east connected to the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway at Maxwell Junction. To the north west was a [[Glasgow and Paisley Joint ...

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See also
Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway)
Maxwell Junction to Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Caledonian Railway)
Standard Mogul 77008 on the spur from Maxwell Junction up to Bellahouston No 1 on 5 May 1956. [Ref query 1080] ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/05/1956
1 of 1 images.


This was the junction between the 1849 General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway and the 1886 Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway). It provided a goods line up to Bellahouston No 1 Junction. The spur was built by the Caledonian Railway. The signal box opened with the junction in 1886. The box was on the north side of the junction.
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Maxwell Junction to Bellahouston No 1 Junction (Caledonian Railway)
Jumbo 0-6-0 57296 westbound passing through Maxwell Junction on 5 May 1956 with a Dalmarnock to Ibrox football special. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/05/1956
1 of 1 images.


Shields Tunnel is a twin bore tunnel, both bores built for two tracks. When built it carried two arms of the new General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway and passed under both the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal and Shields Road (which crossed over the canal by Shields Bridge at this point).
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The Burma road emerges from under the closed CGU approach to Shields Station - east end of tunnel. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
1 of 1 images.


This is a three way junction, formerly a four way junction.
...

More details
Terminus Junction looking north. Junction between the lines to Muirhouse Central Junction (nearer) and Larkfield Junction. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
GNSR 49 and NBR 256 lead the Scottish Industries Exhibition Special
...
Ewan Crawford Collection 11/09/1959
Overlooking Kinning Park Junction at Shields Road. The flyunder meets the Burma road. From left to right; Shields station (GSW, closed), Burma Road, ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
3 of 3 images.





Kinning Park Goods Branch

This branch ran from Kinning Park Junction to Kinning Park Goods. The goods yard is now closed, but a link was made at the west end of the site allowing trains to burrow under from Shields West Junction to Terminus Junction.

This junction was between Terminus Junction and Scotland Street Junction on the mineral line to General Terminus. The location was overshadowed by Shields Road [CGU] station to the north of the City of Glasgow Union Railway and Shields station to the south on the Paisley Canal Line (Glasgow and South Western Railway).
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More details
Although the WD 2-8-0 is somewhat blurred, this picture shows some of the complexities around Glasgow's Shields Road station in July 1963. The loco is ...
Robin McGregor 03/07/1963
The 66 is at Kinning Park Junction during the works to re-lay Shields Junction. There is a tamper? further along the Burma Road. As part of the works ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2007
2 of 2 images.


This large goods station was located on the north side of the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, however its approach was from the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway its connection being at the east end of the yard directly below the Paisley line from which it ran east to Kinning Park Junction. The yard was an addition to the General Terminus line and did not open with it.
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Kinning Park Goods still functioning as a coal yard after closure. Now the M8 industrial estate. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
1 of 1 images.