Sighthill East Junction

Location type

Junction

Names and dates

Sighthill Junction (1875-1992)
Sighthill East Junction (1992-)

Station code: National Rail
Opened on the City of Glasgow Union Railway.
Opened on the Sighthill Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway).

Description

The 1875 City of Glasgow Union Railway ran from Cowlairs West Junction parallel to, and on the east side of, the 1855 Sighthill Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway) and a junction existed here between these lines and the exchange line to Sighthill East Junction [1st] on the Buchanan Street Extension (Caledonian Railway).

A box was opened here in 1886, replacing an older example. This was located on the east side of the line. To the south it controlled the divide between the approach to Sighthill Goods and Sighthill East Junction [1st]. To the north it controlled access to locomotive works: the Hyde Park Works [2nd], Atlas Works [2nd] and Mons Works and the southern approach to Springburn station, its goods yard to the east and bypass to the west.

The box was resignalled in 1960 for the electrification of the northern half of the CGU to Springburn from Bellgrove Junction.

In 1966 when the major station Buchanan Street closed the Sighthill Junction to Sighthill East Junction [1st] curve was upgraded to take passenger services. It carries the Glasgow Queen Street High Level / Springburn to Cumbernauld service.

The signal box closed in the 1990s. With the opening of the Cowlairs Curve in 1992 the junction was renamed Sighthill East Junction. The new curve runs from Sighthill West Junction to Cowlairs South Junction, providing direct access to Glasgow Queen Street High Level for Cumbernauld trains for the first time.

Sighthill East Junction still exists today, between CGU and the curve east to the Cumbernauld line.

Tags

Junction
01/08/2020




Chronology Dates

  /  /1896Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway is granted access to the Atlas Works [2nd], Springburn, from the Buchanan Street Extension (Caledonian Railway) via Sighthill East Junction [1st] and Sighthill Junction.
07/11/1966Buchanan Street Extension (Caledonian Railway)
Buchanan Street station closed; Buchanan Street to Sighthill East Junction closed. Where possible trains are diverted to Glasgow Queen Street High Level. A local shuttle to Cumbernauld commences from Springburn.
30/11/1968Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway
Sighthill East Junction to Germiston Junction Low closed.
  /  /1991Sighthill Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway)
Slow, goods, lines to south/west of Springburn station - Cowlairs West Junction to Sighthill Junction - lifted.

News items

07/08/2021Scotland Weather: Speed restrictions on Scottish trains due to heavy rain across the country [Scotsman]