New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)

Introduction

This railway was closed in the 1980s except for a short section from Coatbridge Sunnyside to Moffat Mills Junction, a short branch ran Moffat Mills. Passenger services terminated at Airdrie. After closure of the freight branch the line east of Airdrie was closed and then re-opened to passengers to Drumgelloch [1st] (Airdrie) as a single track line. Much of the closed route became a cycle-way. The line has reopened throughout with new passenger stations. The cycle-way has been re-aligned alongside. The line is also known as the New Monkland Line. It was built by the Monkland Railways.



Dates

  /  /1857New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Act for a line from Clarkston by Calderbank Branch Junction to Cowdenhead authorised.
01/11/1858New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Cowdenhead to Standhill Junction (later renamed Woodend Junction) opened. The Craigmill Branch opened from Standhill Junction to Craigmill Siding. The siding served the nearby Woodend mines owned by the Coltness Iron Works.
  /  /1859New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Opened to minerals from Calderbank Branch Junction to Stepends Junction (continued by separate line to Stepends Colliery, of the Summerlee Iron Works).
  /  /1860New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Line opened to goods and minerals from Stepends Junction to Standhill (Woodend Junction). Plains Colliery (Planes Branch) also opened.
  /08/1860Shotts Branch (Monkland Railways)
Act for branch from the New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) at Westcraigs to Shotts Goods passed.
  /  /1861New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Opened to goods and minerals from Greenside Junction to Brownieside Junction.
11/08/1862New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways)
Opened to passenger trains. Stations at Airdrie South, Clarkston [NBR], Caldercruix, Forrestfield and Westcraigs on the new line. New station further east on the Torbanehill line at Armadale.
  /  /1882New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Plains station opened.
  /  /1891New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Coatdyke station opened.
  /  /1949New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Boots Airdrie Factory to Calderbank Branch Junction opened.This was a realignment and extension of Colliertree Siding.
08/01/1956Glasgow City and District Railway Coatbridge Branch (North British Railway) Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Boghead to Cowdenhead Branch (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways) Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
Last regular Glasgow Queen Street Low Level to Edinburgh Waverley via Shettleston, Coatbridge Sunnyside and Bathgate Upper service runs.
09/01/1956New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Boghead to Cowdenhead Branch (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways)
Airdrie to Bathgate Upper to Edinburgh (Bathgate Junction) closed to passengers.
  /  /1960New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Ballochney Railway
Moffat Paper Mills to Wester Moffat Exchange Sidings (excluded) closed. (Later re-opened to serve Inver House Distillery.)
  /  /1963New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Ballochney Railway
Springbank Quarry to Wester Moffat Exchange Sidings to Moffat Mills Junction (excluded) closed.
  /  /1967New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Boots Airdrie Factory to Calderbank Branch Junction to Brownieside Junction (excluded) closed.
  /  /1973New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Woodend Colliery branch in abeyance.
  /  /1977New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Woodend Colliery branch re-opened.
24/12/1979New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Woodend Junction to Woodend Colliery Washery closed. The washery still stood in 2001.
  /  /1981New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Ballochney Railway
Moffat Mills Junction to Inver House Distillery re-opened. (This is inaccurate as a photograph from 1974 shows a train leaving the branch from Inver House Distillery, unless there was a further closure and re-opening.)
  /02/1982New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Boghead to Cowdenhead Branch (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways)
Last freight runs between Airdrie and Bathgate Upper. Line lifted between Moffat Mills Junction (excluded) and Bathgate Upper (excluded). Between Moffat Mills Junction and Airdrie the line is singled (eastbound line lifted and eastbound platform at Airdrie closed).
01/01/1986Ballochney Railway
New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Inver House Distillery to Moffat Mills Junction to Airdrie (excluded) closed. The track is left disused from Airdrie to Moffat Mills Junction with a buffer placed at the east end of Airdrie station. South of Moffat Mills Junction is lifted and girders removed from viaduct.
15/05/1989New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Airdrie service extended east to new Drumgelloch [1st] terminus (line beyond to Moffat Mills Junction lifted).
09/05/2010New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Drumgelloch [1st] closed to allow the line to be doubled as part of the re-opening between Airdrie and Bathgate.
17/07/2010New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Airdrie closed to allow second platform to be built.
26/07/2010 New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Airdrie re-opened.
18/10/2010New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways)
Opened for driver training between Airdrie and Bathgate.
12/12/2010New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) Boghead to Cowdenhead Branch (Monkland Railways) Torbanehill and Bathgate Branch (Monkland Railways)
Opened between Airdrie and Bathgate. Stations at Drumgelloch, Caldercruix (delayed opening until 13 February), Blackridge, Armadale.
13/02/2011New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Caldercruix station opened.
  /08/2018New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
Agreement between political parties that a station should be opened at Plains. (Station not opened.)
  /03/2019New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways)
New park and ride car park opened at Airdrie.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Brownieside to Armadale

This was a junction between the Ballochney Railway's Clarkston (West Moffat) branch of 1828 and the later Calderbank Iron Works Branch (Monkland Railways) of 1855. The lines here were single track.
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See also
Ballochney Railway
Calderbank Iron Works Branch (Monkland Railways)
The overgrown cutting to the left was the site of Calderbank Junction, the junction between the Clarkston branch of the Ballochney Railway and its ...
Ewan Crawford 03/05/1997
1 of 1 images.


This junction was east of Airdrie on the New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways). When opened in 1859 the western end of this line met the former Ballochney Railway close to Calderbank Junction. In 1861 the new line was completed by the opening westwards of Brownieside Junction to Greenside Junction, this new portion avoiding the inclines on the older route.
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This was a two platform station with a level crossing at the west end.
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Plains signal box. The line from Bathgate to Airdrie was retained for freight traffic as a double track line until 1979 when it was singled, from ...
John Clark 27/04/1981
In this photograph, believed to date from 1968, a Swindon DMU is heading east along the Bathgate line from Airdrie, about to pass the level crossing ...
Brian Haslehust //1968
The view east from the former level crossing at Plains in 1997. The signal box had been off to the left, where the house is seen. This house was ...
Ewan Crawford 03/05/1997
Plains looking east. Note the platform on the left. ...
Ewan Crawford 18/02/2006
4 of 9 images. more


This junction was east of Plains station. It served the siding to Stepends Colliery and Stepends Brick Works. (These were connected by a long aerial ropeway to Ardenrigg Colliery Pit No 6 to the south east.)
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At Stepends the A89 has been temporarily diverted over the trackbed of the Airdrie-Bathgate route to allow a bridge over the road to be replaced. ...
Ewan Crawford 26/09/2009
At Stepends, just east of Plains, two branches left the line. One ran east to a colliery at Moffat Hills and another, the Plains Branch, ran west to ...
Ewan Crawford 26/12/2008
The rail bridge over the A89 on the eastern outskirts of Plains, seen here looking towards Caldercruix on 2 May 2010 with the new deck now in place. ...
John Furnevel 02/05/2010
3 of 3 images.


This signal box was for Stepends Junction (to the west) and Plains Junction (to the east). The box was on the north side of the line at Barblues.
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This junction was at Barblues, between Plains station (to the west) and Caldercruix station (to the east). It was the junction for the short colliery line to Brownieside Colliery No 3 which was north of the line and to the west of the junction, reached by reversal. From the branch another line ran north to Barblues Colliery, which had tramways to further pits.
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A view west of the former Plains Junction in December 2008. Work to reinstate the Airdrie - Bathgate line began shortly afterwards. Two mineral ...
Ewan Crawford 26/12/2008
1 of 1 images.


This signal box was west of Caldercruix station, located on the north side of the line where the sidings for Caldercruix Mill were located. These were on the south side of the line, approached from the west.
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This was a paper mill in Caldercruix.
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This is a two platform station.
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A Helensburgh Central - Edinburgh Waverley service, formed by SPT liveried 334007, leaving Caldercruix on 27 April 2011. The new station had opened ...
John Furnevel 27/04/2011
A Milngavie service pulls in on 20 June. Caldercruix Main Street has the 5 small-town essentials: a Chinese takeaway, an Indian takeaway, a ...
David Panton 20/06/2018
The 10.40 Helensburgh Central - Edinburgh Waverley arrives at the eastbound platform at Caldercruix on 8 May 2014. ...
John Furnevel 08/05/2014
334027 heads west on the approach to Caldercruix on 2 April 2011. ...
Bill Roberton 02/04/2011
4 of 43 images. more






The summit of the line, 656 ft, is at the east end of Hillend Reservoir, a little west of the former Forrestfield station. The line runs along the south bank of the reservoir. The closest station today is at Caldercruix, to the west, today.
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The 12.27 Milngavie - Edinburgh Waverley about to pass the 'Holmes Summit' board alongside Hillend reservoir, between Caldercruix and Blackridge, on ...
John Furnevel 19/09/2011
The former Airdrie to Bathgate line seen at Forrestfield Summit in 2008 just as reinstatement works began and prior to its new name. The bridge was to ...
Ewan Crawford 26/12/2008
A mid morning Edinburgh - Milngavie service about to pass Holmes Summit, between Blackridge and Caldercruix, on 23 September 2013. The name ...
John Furnevel 23/09/2013
The 12.27 Milngavie - Edinburgh Waverley service approaching Forrestfield through the rain on 19 September 2011. The train is running alongside the ...
John Furnevel 19/09/2011
4 of 5 images. more


This was a two platform station. The station was located at the east end of Hillend Loch in an area of low population. Forrestfield consisted of a row of cottages and a stage coach inn.
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334 031 heads west away from Forrestfield on 2 April. ...
Bill Roberton 02/04/2011
The abandoned former stagecoach inn close to Forrestfield station (1862-1930) standing alongside the A89 between Airdrie and Bathgate. Seen here on a ...
John Furnevel 02/05/2010
The 1048 Edinburgh Waverley - Helensburgh Central approaching Forrestfield, North Lanarkshire, on 15 May 2015. ...
John Furnevel 15/05/2015
After passing Forrestfield westbound on 15 May 2015 the 1048 Edinburgh Waverley - Helensburgh Central is about to skirt the south shore of Hillend ...
John Furnevel 15/05/2015
4 of 45 images. more


Looking back towards Blackridge on 2 May 2010, from the point west of the village where the A89 crosses the trackbed at Bedlormie Toll. Considerable ...
John Furnevel 02/05/2010
1 of 1 images.


This was the junction between the New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways) and the Hillhouserigg Railway. The branch was approached from the east. It was directly west of Westcraigs station and its goods yard. The main line was originally single track and the branch was single. The nearby station had a loop and the original junction box was on the eastbound platform.
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See also
Shotts Branch (Monkland Railways)
View west over Westcraigs Junction. It's much more difficult now to tell this is a former junction site with the former line to Shotts taking off to ...
Ewan Crawford 27/06/2010
1 of 1 images.


This was a two platform station immediately east of Westcraigs Junction. There was a goods yard to the south, approached from the west, with a double height loading bank
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Entrance to the former Westcraigs station, West Lothian, on 28 August 2009. View north from Station Road showing the old station house, with the ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2009
Site of the former Westcraigs station in West Lothian, situated just over 2 miles west of Armadale on the Airdrie - Bathgate route. The line closed to ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2009
B1 61278 makes a water stop at Westcraigs on 3 December 1966 with the BR Last B1 Excursion. [Ref query 1524] ...
Bruce McCartney /12/1966
334 025 brings up the rear of a six car train from Helensburgh Central to Edinburgh Waverley on 16 March. The train is passing the site of the former ...
Bill Roberton 16/03/2011
4 of 16 images. more


This is a modern two platform station to the east of the village of Blackridge. It has a car park on its north side.
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An Edinburgh service calls at Blackridge on 28 June and picks up its young customer. Blackridge station must suffer from being not particularly close ...
David Panton 28/06/2018
A mid morning train from Helensburgh Central calls at a grey and misty Blackridge, West Lothian, in September 2011 on its journey to Edinburgh. The ...
John Furnevel 19/09/2011
A 6-car class 334 combination approaching Blackridge, West Lothian, in May 2014 on a Helensburgh Central - Edinburgh Waverley service, with the ...
John Furnevel 08/05/2014
Blackridge station in all its isolation. Note the length of the ramp, nowadays necessary in a station without lifts. The wind turbines all around were ...
David Panton 28/06/2018
4 of 17 images. more


This junction was east of today's Blackridge station. Three mineral lines ran from here and there was a yard. There was a signal box (replaced in 1904 when the line east was doubled). The box was on the north side of the junction. Woodend Junction was the site of a loop when the railway was still single track. The loop line was on the north side. The junction was briefly the end of the line ...

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This station was located to the west of the overbridge. The line was original single track. To the east of the bridge was a passing loop on the line when it first opened. The present Armadale station has opened on the site of the loop.
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See also
Boghead to Cowdenhead Branch (Monkland Railways)
The 14.11 Helensburgh Central - Edinburgh Waverley slows for the Armadale stop on 23 September 2013, passing another new housing development. ...
John Furnevel 23/09/2013
Looking west towards the former station site at Armadale. ...
Ewan Crawford 17/02/2010
Armadale looking west. The station and buildings were over by the modern shed. ...
Ewan Crawford 18/02/2006
Looking west over the site of the former Armadale station. The trackbed here was landscaped quite a bit here after closure of the line so I can ...
Ewan Crawford 26/09/2009
4 of 8 images. more





West Moffat Branch









This is industrial distillery.
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See also
Rail Served Distilleries





Woodend Colliery Branch

Originally the Craigmill Branch.

This junction was east of today's Blackridge station. Three mineral lines ran from here and there was a yard. There was a signal box (replaced in 1904 when the line east was doubled). The box was on the north side of the junction. Woodend Junction was the site of a loop when the railway was still single track. The loop line was on the north side. The junction was briefly the end of the line ...

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This colliery was opened around 1870 by the Coltness Iron Company. It was north west of Armadale, West Lothian. The site for which it is principally known was Pit No 5.
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Greenside to Brownieside

This was a double track junction east of Coatbridge Sunnyside. It was formed between the Kipps branch of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway and the later New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways).
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Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
Airdrie and Balloch services pass at the site of Greenside Junction on 4th May 2019.
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Alastair McLellan 04/05/2019
This is the site of Greenside Junction, with the Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway turning to the right while the line to the Kipps Shed and the ...
Alastair McLellan 04/05/2019
2 of 2 images.


This is a two platform station near Monklands Hospital. The station did not open with the line. When built it was a very rural location, it is now in the west of Airdrie. To the east of the station is the Coatdyke Viaduct. There was no goods or mineral yard, Coatdyke Mineral Depot was on a separate line to the south.
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A solitary passenger alights from a mid-morning Edinburgh Waverley to Helensburgh Central service at Coatdyke on 18th May 2016. All original buildings ...
David Bosher 18/05/2016
320 309 calls at Coatdyke on 17 March 2010 with a service for Balloch. ...
David Panton 17/03/2010
Glasgow bound service about to leave Coatdyke station on 8 July 2009. ...
John Steven 08/07/2009
An Edinburgh service pulls into the rather spartan station at Coatdyke in Coatbridge on 6 February 2019. ...
David Panton 06/02/2019
4 of 14 images. more


This is a ten arch double track masonry viaduct east of Coatdyke station.
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Coatdyke viaduct in Coatbridge, was lit-up blue to show solidarity with key workers and frontline NHS staff all across the country.
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Network Rail 07/05/2020
Airdrie to Balloch train passing over Centenery Ave Viaduct approaching Coatdyke station (4/3/17). ...
Alastair McLellan 04/03/2017
2 of 2 images.


This is the main station in Airdrie with three platforms, one a bay for services to Glasgow. The two main platforms are served by east-west trains from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Bathgate.
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A Balloch - Airdrie service approaching its destination on 21 June 2010. The train has just run onto the single line western approach to Airdrie ...
John Furnevel 21/06/2010
Dusk falls on Airdrie as an Edinburgh to Milngavie service calls on 1st November 2017.
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David Panton 01/11/2017
334022 uses its recently gained freedom to work to Edinburgh in July 2015. Airdrie station looked a lot better than on my last visit, when trains ...
Ken Strachan 16/07/2015
An Edinburgh to Milngavie service changes drivers at Airdrie on 17/06/2017. ...
David Panton 17/06/2017
4 of 75 images. more




This was a single platform terminus.
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A morning train fror Helensburgh Central formed by SPT liveried 320302 about to leave the single platform Drumgelloch terminus in April 2009. This ...
John Furnevel 02/04/2009
320 305 stands at the terminus at Drumgelloch on 15 September 2007. ...
David Panton 15/09/2007
Trackbed preparation work in progress on the Airdrie - Bathgate route at Drumgelloch in June 2010. View is east from Crowwood Drive towards the site ...
John Furnevel 14/06/2010
View west at the site of Crowwood Drive road bridge on 8th August 2009. The former Drumgelloch station can just be seen in the background. ...
Colin McDonald 08/08/2009
4 of 20 images. more


This is a two platform station.
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Helensburgh bound train arriving in the snow at Drumgelloch on 19th January 2015.
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John Yellowlees 19/01/2015
A mid-morning Edinburgh Waverley - Helensburgh Central emu picks up a passenger at Drumgelloch on 7 March 2011. This was one of two new stations on ...
John Furnevel 07/03/2011
The 1010 Helensburgh Central - Edinburgh Waverley pulls away from the eastbound platform of the relocated Drumgelloch station on 7 March 2011, the day ...
John Furnevel 07/03/2011
An Edinburgh service calls at Drumgelloch on 25 October 2018. The street off-camera to the right is called 'Station Road' but the station was the ...
David Panton 25/10/2018
4 of 21 images. more


This was a two platform station. The line is open but station closed in 1956. The main station building was on the eastbound platform. There was a signal box at the west end of the westbound platform. The box closed in 1965. There was a small goods yard to the north of the westbound platform, approached from the west.
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The trackbed through the old station site at Clarkston (Lanark) in December 2008 looking east towards Towers Road bridge. Two years later this would ...
John Furnevel 26/12/2008
The old bridge carrying Towers Road, Airdrie, looking west along the trackbed in December 2008. On the other side of the bridge is the site of ...
John Furnevel 26/12/2008
Heavy plant occupying the trackbed of the Airdrie - Bathgate route at Drumgelloch on 11 September 2009 as work continues on demolition of Towers Road ...
John Furnevel 11/09/2009
View west to the B8058 where a new bridge is being built over the re-opening line. ...
Ewan Crawford 17/02/2010
4 of 11 images. more


Half a mile east of Moffat Mills Junction the trackbed was reverting to nature. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
A walk in the woods on the eastern outskirts of Airdrie in September 2009 during work on reinstatement of the Airdrie - Bathgate line. Photograph ...
John Furnevel 11/09/2009
Looking east over the former Moffat Mills Junction. The branch to the right served the Inverhouse Distillery. ...
Ewan Crawford 18/02/2006
Looking west towards Drumgelloch from the former Moffat Mills. The masts are up but there's no wires. ...
Bill Roberton 27/09/2010
4 of 12 images. more


This junction was east of Airdrie on the New Monkland Line (Monkland Railways). When opened in 1859 the western end of this line met the former Ballochney Railway close to Calderbank Junction. In 1861 the new line was completed by the opening westwards of Brownieside Junction to Greenside Junction, this new portion avoiding the inclines on the older route.
...

More details