Caledonian Railway Association Forum

Hi Niall, Great to hear that you are continuing your writing on the history of railways in the Dundee area. I cannot help with a date of the rebuilding of the East station frontage, and I have always assumed that the LMS took the glass out as a wartime precaution. They may well have been motivated t...

I see that Jim has posted the same message elsewhere! Apologies for duplication.

John

The CRA and myself provided information to Rumpus Media in producing the Scotland episode in Series 3 of ‘Walking Britain’s Lost Railways’, which will include the Callander & Oban Railway.
The programme will be broadcast on Friday 4th December at 8:00pm on Channel 5.

Sorry folks!

I forgot to attach the shot!

Here it is.

John

Jim,

This may not answer your questions but at the bottom of CR folder I have a photocopied article from the October 1959 Model Railway News. Here it is.

(The pages upload in reverse order - I can't sort this!)

John

Good thinking, and thanks for your efforts in presenting the evidence! I attach a present-day google earth shot, overlaid with your suggestions. Previously I had attempted to find out if the GB&K was built as single track, but found no convincing evidence. The first appearance of the railway on an O...

Good lateral thinking Bill. I was beginning to think that we had drawn a complete blank here. Not sure if there is quite enough of a valley between EK and Blantyre - I have just taken a 'trip' along there on Google Streetview. Also, do you think that there was a passenger service over that line? I'm...

Thanks Jim, Personally I'm not convinced that it is this location, or the DD&C. The countryside around the DD&C is more pre-upland than the photo. Also the line tended to run along the hillside, rather than what appears to be a valley floor in the photo. I agree that the OS looks like a double-arch ...

Hi Jim,

You beat me to a mile-by-mile search of the DD&C. I'm not convinced that it definitely is a watercourse, but there must be a reason why a second arch was added.

Thanks for your efforts!

John

Mike - it is Barrhead Joint.

Best wishes,

John

This is a photo which I have seen in the past without any stated location. More recently however it appeared in "Through Scotland with the Caledonian Railway" by A. J. Mullay with the location "Uplawmoor". This confuses me because as far as I am aware, the Glasgow, Neilston and Kilmarnock Joint Rail...

Hi Bill,

I see the small rectangle that you mention. That may well have been some sort of signalling building.

John

CaleyJim - I presume that you were familiar with that nightclub?

PS the photo is looking northwards.

Jim,

It is the bowstring bridge that carried the CR Glasgow eastern circular line over the ex-NB line between High Street and the former Parkhead station. It survived into the 1970s - which I guess is the era in which the photo was taken (looking at the cars). See uploaded map.

John

Thanks Bill, I suggest that you write a 'follow-up' article. The Dunkeld branch opened on 7.4.1856,while the SLS Signal Box Register Vol 6: Scotland records the opening date of Stanley Junction box as 1874. Looking closely at the 1864 OS plan (in the article) I see no reference to a signal box, and ...

I have a drawing sheet of Kirriemuir station (a standard Caledonian design) which shows all but the rear elevation (however this can be deduced from the plan). I also have two incomplete copies of a drawing of Kirriemuir goods shed. I don't have a drawing of Forfar North box, but do have drawings of...

Bill,

Thanks for these comments - good to get an update / correction to the article. If you don't mind, I'll ask Alistair to publish your post as a 'letter' so that all members can see it. The photos illustrate the later working method well.

John

My guess is that this is Blackwood Junction, looking north. The Mid-Lanarks line diverges off to the left to Ferniegair Junction via Stonehouse and Larkhall. The old Blackwood branch heads north under the arch at the right background - to Ferniegair Junction via Southfield Junction and Dalserf. I at...

I didn't actually spend that much time on it! Thinking about NB stations with level crossings at the platform ends narrows the field considerably. In my initial search I forgot about Leuchars Old. It was only as a last resort when WCML55.68 presented further evidence that it could be NB that I looke...

One thing I noticed was that the chimney of the building beside the track appears to be taller in the later photos. Maybe it was found that the smoke obscured the signalman's view or blew into his windows when they were open.

John

Sorry - forgot the important bit - the photos!

Guys,

Could it be this, with replacement footbridge but the same building beyond the level crossing?

John

I can't make up my mind whether the track in the photo is four-foot-eight-and-a-half, or five-foot-three.

Duncan, "Buildings of the Scottish Countryside" by Naismith says that pantiles were used in Lothian, Stirlingshire and along the northern coastline of the Forth in Clackmannan and Fife. "Apart from these areas only isolated parts of the countryside especially along the east coast used clay tiles for...