Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was an early mineral railway running from a colliery at Monklands to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland.
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was set up by the owners of local canals, coal mines (coalmasters), iron works and iron mines (ironmasters). The railway was intended to work as a feeder, in conjunction with the canals, particularly the Monkland Canal, the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, and the River Clyde, to transport these products to both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The engineer was Thomas Grainger.
1824 May 17th. The railway was Authorised
1826 October 1st. The railway opened. Its main function was intended to be the transportation of coal, but iron ore and passengers were also carried. It was built to the Scotch gauge of 4 ft 6 in.
The railway initially ran from the Palacecraig coal pit, near Airdrie, past Coatbridge and Gartsherrie, to a canal basin on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch. From here the goods could go by canal to either Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Particularly for goods which had previously been transported from Monklands, via the Monkland Canal, the River Clyde and the Forth and Clyde Canal, to Edinburgh it shortened the journey time by one week.
1831 The simple Killingworth type of engine, with plain guides for the piston-rods, was revived in 1831 on the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in the case of two engines built by Murdoch, Aitken and Co, of Glasgow to the designs of Mr. Isaac Dodds. These were the first locomotives built in Scotland. The wheels had a lateral play of about 1in to allow for the sharp curves on the line, and the coupling rods worked on spherical pins to provide for this lateral motion.[1]
In 1833 the railway operated a wagon ferry on the Forth and Clyde Canal.
1846 Parliament authorised the Chapel-hall branch [2]
In 1848 it merged with two adjoining railway lines to become the Monkland Railways
1924 A little-known fact about the Monkland and Kitkintilloch is that the stretch of 52 chains between Garnqueen South Junction and Gartsherrie is now part of the route taken by the London, Midland and Scottish trains to and from Perth and North thereof.[3]
See Also
Sources of Information
[1] Wikipedia