Whifflet South Junction

Location type

Junction

Names and dates

Whifflet Junction (1845-1865)
Whifflet South Junction (1865-)

Station code: WSJ National Rail
Opened on the Whifflet Extension (Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway).
Opened on the Wishaw and Coltness Railway.

Description

This junction is to the south of Whifflet station. It was formed in 1845 when the 1834 portion of the Wishaw and Coltness Railway was met by the Whifflet Extension (Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway).

Just to the north the Wishaw and Coltness Railway had met the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway. Difficulties with that line due to volume of traffic and level crossing had the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway build an bypassing extension south, first to Coatbridge and then to Whifflet, to meet the W&C. The bypass line was very successful and became an important part of the Caledonian Railway main line route to Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Forfar and Dundee and Aberdeen from the south. The older route, despite the opening of deviations to avoid the level crossing, did not become part of a main line and is now a backwater.

A signal box opened at the junction in 1865, when the Rutherglen and Coatbridge Branch (Caledonian Railway) opened west from Whifflet North Junction to Rutherglen Junction. The box was replaced around the turn of the century and closed in 1968 when taken over by Whifflet North Junction box.

With the re-opening of the Rutherglen and Coatbridge Branch (Caledonian Railway) to local passenger trains in 1993 a station opened at Whifflet. Terminating here is problematic as this blocks the main line. There is a facing crossover to the south of Whifflet South Junction which can be used to change tracks for the return journey to Glasgow, but if a layover of any length is needed the train can be reversed to the goods loop at the former Whifflet East Junction, an infrequently used section of track, to leave the main line open.

Tags

Junction




Chronology Dates

  /02/1843Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway
Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway extended from Gartsherrie to new Coatbridge [CR], initially a terminus. (This line later extended through to Whifflet South Junction and was used by the Wishaw and Coltness Railway and the Caledonian Railway to avoid the more tortuous Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway route with level crossings through Coatbridge.)
14/07/1845Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway
Extended from Coatbridge [CR] to Whifflet South Junction. Whifflet [CR] station opened. The Wishaw and Coltness Railway passenger service to Glasgow Townhead ceases to use the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway to reach Gartsherrie and is diverted via Coatbridge [CR].
02/06/1885Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
The Caledonian Railway is granted running powers to Coatbridge Tinplate Works from Whifflet South Junction.
10/09/1951Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
Passenger trains running from Sunnyside Junction to Whifflet South Junction through Coatbridge Central [NB] for the Bothwell [North British] service cease to run - last regular passenger service over this section of line.
  /  /1954Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
Rosehall Branch (the Rosehall Railway) from Whifflet South Junction (excluded) closed.
  /  /1955Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
Line from Whifflet South Junction (excluded) to Palacecraig Colliery closed.
29/09/1986Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch Pier closed to passengers. The electric catenary was used to electrify the Sunnyside Junction to Whifflet South Junction line.

News items

19/08/2022£2.2 million Coatbridge upgrade keeps vital freight on the move [Network Rail]

Books


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

Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Old Newmains and the Villages Around Wishaw

Old Wishaw

Wishaw 1896: Lanarkshire Sheet 18.03 (Old O.S. Maps of Lanarkshire)