Wilsontown

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Wilsontown (1867-1951)

Opened on the Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway).

Description

This was a passenger terminus built at the remote mining town of Wilsontown. Collieries here were served by waggonways long before the railway arrived, the Wilsontown Iron Works opening in 1779 (and closing in 1842). Following the closure of the iron works the colliery was bought and new mines sunk. The Caledonian Railway branch opened in 1860 to minerals and goods, and to passengers in 1867.

The station was built just to the west for the former iron works. It was a single platform station on the south side of a loop. There was a goods yard to the east, on the south side of the station, with goods shed. A passenger service ran from a bay platform at Auchengray on the Caledonian Railway main line, the station being to the south of the branch using a curve opened between Wilsontown West Junction and Wilsontown South Junction in 1866.

A signal box (1893) was to the east, with the passenger line to the north and goods yard line to its south. This was a large box, somewhat larger than the station building.

Several mineral lines ran from near the station. The line continued west beyond the station loop in 1869 to reach Climpy Colliery. A line from east of the station ran north west to Wilsontown Colliery Pit No 3 and its coke ovens. A further line ran from east of the iron works site north to Wilsontown Colliery Pit No 9.

The Climpy branch was extended west to Kingshill Colliery No 2 in the 1920s.

The passenger service ceased in 1951. The station's signal box closed in 1963. The railway remained open until 1964.

The station site found other uses after closure and has since been cleared.

Tags

Station terminus
02/08/2020


Chronology Dates

  /  /1824William Dixon [Junior]
Buys Wilsontown estate.
22/10/1860Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Line opened from Wilsontown Junction [1st] to Wilsontown.
  /  /1866Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Authorisation of the Climpy Branch, an extension of the existing (then goods only) line from Wilsontown. This was as part of the Lanarkshire and Midlothian Branches Act of 1866.
16/01/1866Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown extension opened to Wilsontown for goods.
  /  /1867Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown and West Calder Railway authorised. (Not built.)
01/03/1867Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Opened to passengers. The service ran from Auchengray, where a bay platform was added to the existing 1848 station, to Wilsontown, via the south curve.
06/01/1869Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Branch extended west from Wilsontown to Climpy Colliery. Extension to Shotts abandoned.
  /  /1873Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown and West Calder Junction Railway authorised. (Not built.)
  /  /1876Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown and West Calder Junction Railway further time to complete. (Not built.)
  /  /1879Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown and West Calder Junction Railway abandoned.
  /  /1920Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
The Line was extended about this date (probably 1927/8) 3.5 miles west to Kingshill Colliery No 2. There was already a short section open between Wilsontown and to the west of Climpy Road to Climpy Colliery.
  /  /1946Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown South Junction was renamed Wilsontown Junction [2nd]. The Wilsontown branch was singled between Haywood and Wilsontown Junction [2nd].
10/09/1951Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown to Auchengray (Wilsontown Junction [2nd]) closed to passengers. Wilsontown and Haywood are closed. Auchengray, on the Caledonian Railway's Edinburgh line, remains open until 1966.
04/05/1964Wilsontown Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Wilsontown Junction to Wilsontown closed.

Books


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

Lanarkshire's Last Days of Steam

Lanarkshire's Last Days of Steam

Lanarkshire's Lost Railways

Lanarkshire's Lost Railways

Lanarkshire's Mining Disasters

Lanarkshire's Mining Legacy
Lanarkshire's Mining Legacy
Lanarkshire's Mining Legacy

Old Forth: With Wilsontown, Climpy, Braehead, Haywood, Auchengray, Woolfords and Tarbrax