Gushetfaulds Junction

Location type

Junction

Name and dates

Gushetfaulds Junction (1849-)

Opened on the Polloc and Govan Railway.
Opened on the Clydesdale Junction Railway.

Description

This junction was formed in 1849 when a short detached portion of the Clydesdale Junction Railway was opened from the former Polloc and Govan Railway (which the Clydesdale had purchased and upgraded) to a new terminus at South Side [CR]. This was an important new terminus in the south side of Glasgow, from 1849 the terminus for trains from England via the Caledonian Railway. Approach to the junction was from the east.

It was almost immediately replaced by [[Buchanan Street], also in 1849, on its opening as the terminus for long distance trains. Trains to closer destinations in Lanarkshire continued to use the station.

In the 1870s work began on the new Gordon Street lnes to Glasgow Central (whose frontage is on Gordon Street). A new line was built from Gushetfaulds to Bridge Street and on over the Clyde Viaduct [Glasgow Central] [1st]. This connected to the existing lines at Gushetfaulds, just west of the junction and making its connection to the South Side [CR] lines (rather than the Polloc and Govan Railway lines) close to Gushetfaulds Junction. The new junction was controlled by a short lived Gordon Street Junction signal box.

A permanent box, on the north side of Gushetfaulds Junction, controlling all lines opened in 1877. Glasgow Central opened in 1879 and South Side [CR] closed.

In 1885 Cathcart Road station opened directly east of the junction to serve the area formerly served by South Side [CR], and the Cathcart Road overbridge. It was almost immediately renamed Gushetfaulds due to the opening of the Cathcart District Railway in 1886.

Gushetfaulds Junction was remodeled in 1909 when the line to Eglinton Street and on to Bridge Street Junction was quadrupled with the addition of two lines on the east side of the existing link. Some of the Gushetfaulds station and carriage sidings site were needed for this work. The signal box was again replaced with a much larger building just to the east of the older structure, the new box was the third largest on the Caledonian.

The signal box was finally replaced in 1972 by Glasgow Central Power Box.

The Gushetfaulds Freightliner Terminal, formerly Gushetfaulds Goods, closed in 1989 and subsequent road building for the M74 extension has blocked the site of what could have been a very useful connecting curve from Gushetfaulds Junction to join the City of Glasgow Union Railway at Gorbals Junction.

The lines remain open here, the main line running east to Rutherglen and lines from Glasgow Central to the north, Shields Road to the west and Strathbungo Junction to the south west meet here.

Tags

Junction


Chronology Dates

01/06/1849Polloc and Govan Railway
Gushetfaulds Junction to West Street Junction upgraded for goods in addition to minerals.
  /  /1872Clydesdale Junction Railway
Authorisation to widen the line between Gushetfaulds Junction and Rutherglen Junction. The line was increased from double track to at least quadruple track between the junctions.
01/07/1879Glasgow Central Station (Caledonian Railway)
Gordon Street lines opened - Central Station Junction (just north west of Gushetfaulds Junction) to Eglinton Street Junction to Bridge Street Junction opened. Strathbungo Junction to Eglinton Street Junction opened.
13/06/1960Polloc and Govan Railway General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Line closed to passengers between Gushetfaulds Junction and Shields Junction No 1.

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

An Illustrated History of Glasgow's Railways

Caledonian Railway

Glasgow Stations