of 302 Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
The Caledonian Railway was a major Scottish railway company operating in Scotland. [1]
It was formed in the early 19th century and it was absorbed almost a century later into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, in the 1923 railway grouping, by means of the Railways Act 1921. Due to legal complications this did not take place on 1 January 1923 when the majority of the amalgamations took place, but was delayed until 1 July 1923 (along with the North Staffordshire Railway).
The company was well supported by Glasgow and Edinburgh shareholders, however more than half of its shares were held in England. It was an integrated railway company, in that it built and owned both the railway lines and the trains. It had a locomotive works, St. Rollox Works, in Springburn, Glasgow, which became part of British Rail and is currently still in use, as a railway maintenance depot.
A railway link from London to the north of England was developed in piecemeal fashion. From about 1838 the London and Birmingham Railway had linked those two destinations; the Grand Junction Railway linked Birmingham to Warrington; the North Union Railway was projected to reach Preston; and the Grand Junction Railway intended to extend the line to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. They got their engineer Joseph Locke to survey a route from Carlisle. The obvious way was to follow Thomas Telford's coach road through Annandale and Clydesdale
The company was formed in the 1830s to link local railways around Glasgow and Edinburgh to the railway network in England, at Carlisle. It sought to open the only cross-border main line (it was thought that only one main line was needed). Its empire was then extended to cover the triangle: Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh; and later reached out to serve Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen.
1845 Company was incorporated.
1847 Line integrated in the Caledonian opened as follows;-[2]
- Carlisle to Beattock, Septrmber 10th, 1847;
- Beattock to Edinburgh and Carstairs to Garriongill, February 15th, 1848;
- Garnqueen South Junction to Greenhill was opened on August 7th, 1848;
- Greenhill to Perth, May 22nd, 1848;
- Perth to Forfar on August 2nd, 1848;
- Guthrie to Ferryhill, outside Aberdeen, was opened April 1st, 1850;
- The stretch from Perth to Dundee was opened May 24th 1847;
Glasgow passengers passed over the Garnkirk line to Glebe-street until November, 1849, when a line from Milton Junction to Buchanan-street Station was opened.
In the Scottish Lowlands it competed against both the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and the North British Railway; but, in the case of the G&SWR, not north of the River Clyde. There was little or no competition north of Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen; this area was served mainly by the Highland Railway.
1872 Two trains had been fitted with the Westinghouse air brake system as an experiment
1875 Two further trains were fitted with the Steel-McInnes air brake system[3]
1888 See Locomotive Stock June 1888.
1908 Company owns 864 miles of road, and jointly with others 159.5 miles more. [4]
1909 Guy Calthrop is general manager.[5]
1914-23 William Pickersgill was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Caledonian Railway.
1921 Henry Allan was the chairman of the railway.[6]
1923 Incorporated in the London, Midland and Scottish Railway