Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway

The Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway was the section of railway line between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Paisley, in the west of Scotland. It was constructed and operated jointly by two competing railway companies as the stem of their lines to Greenock and Ayr respectively, and it opened in 1840. The Joint Committee, which controlled the line, built a branch to Govan and later to Cessnock Dock, and then Prince's Dock. With the passing of the Railways Act 1921 (Grouping Act) the line, together with the Caledonian Railway and the Glasgow and South Western Railway, became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The line is still in heavy use today as the eastern end of the Inverclyde Line and the Ayrshire Coast Line.

In the 1830s promoters in the west of Scotland considered the potential for railway construction, and in the 1837 Parliamentary session, supporters of two schemes presented bills. One scheme was to build from Glasgow to Greenock, and the other from Glasgow to Ayr with a branch to Kilmarnock. Both wished to start from a Glasgow terminus at Bridge Street, and their proposed course as far as Paisley was almost identical. At the time Parliament was hostile to permitting closely parallel construction, and it became clear that the only way forward was to combine to build and use a shared line as far as Paisley. The Acts for the two schemes received the Royal Assent 15 July 1837, and the new companies were called the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (GP&GR) and the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR). The GPK&AR opened a section at its southern end on 19 July 1839 between Irvine and Ayr (Newton on Ayr), and it started operation on the Joint Line on 14 July 1840 from a temporary station at Glasgow (Bridge Street) to Paisley. The GP&GR opened in March 1841, having been delayed due to the difficulties in the construction of the tunnel at Bishopton.

There was never a Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway Company; the Joint Line was managed separately from the other parts of the two owning companies, and managed by a Joint Committee. Some authors have referred to "the Joint Railway" and this has sometimes been taken to imply company status, but that is erroneous.

In 1840 the Bridge Street terminus on Clyde Place was adequate; it was a temporary station, replaced by the imposing permanent structure on 6 April 1841, handling passengers and goods. However, as traffic grew, although it was enlarged, its shortcomings became obvious, and its location on the south side of the River Clyde was seen as a disadvantage. The GPK&AR had merged with the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway and become the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in 1850, and in 1876 it opened a new Glasgow passenger terminus called St Enoch. The site is nowadays largely subsumed in the St Enoch shopping centre. The new terminal was accessed over the City of Glasgow Union Railway, diverging (considered approaching Glasgow) at Shields Junction and crossing the Clyde at the Union Railway Bridge. St Enoch station became the main Glasgow passenger terminal for the G&SWR, although they continued to use Bridge Street for some time. The Caledonian Railway (CR) became the successor to the Glasgow Paisley and Greenock Railway, and it too wished build a larger passenger terminal on the north side of the Clyde; on 31 July 1879, the CR opened a new terminus called Glasgow Central, fronting Gordon Street; the line was extended across the Clyde from Bridge Street on a four track bridge built by Sir William Arrol & Co. Bridge Street station was also improved to include two new through platforms leading to Central Station and four bay platforms: two for the CR and two for the G&SWR. With the opening of Dunlop Street station on the City Union Line on 12 December 1870, the G&SWR had a much more convenient central terminal in Glasgow, and the inconvenient station at Bridge Street was no longer an asset. The G&SWR ceased using it on 1 February 1892, and "the Joint Line now started at the bridge over Cook Street and its mileposts had to be reset for the purpose of mileage calculations." Central Station was improved and extended in the period 1901 to 1905, and an additional eight track bridge built over the Clyde. Bridge Street station was closed in 1905 and the site was used as carriage sidings.

A branch was promoted by the Joint Committee to Govan, from Ibrox. It opened to goods traffic on 1 May 1868 and to passengers on 2 December 1868. As an inner suburban line, it was vulnerable to tramcar competition, and the passenger service was withdrawn on 9 May 1921. The work involved the opening out of the Arkleston Tunnel, which was reported as being carried out in 1882. 260 trains used the section daily at that time—300 in the peak summer period. British Rail later reduced the section between Shields and Arkleston Junctions to two tracks again in the mid 1960s, as part of the resignalling and electrification of the line towards Gourock, and further removed the slow lines between Arkleston Junction and Wallneuk Junction (the point of divergence of the Ayr line and the Gourock line) during the 1980s Ayrshire Coast electrification.

The joint line remains important today as part of the heavily trafficked Inverclyde and Ayrshire Coast lines. It was additionally proposed in the mid 2000s that the line would form part of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link between Glasgow Central station and Glasgow Airport, and plans for the link were approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2007. These plans included a number of capacity enhancements for the joint line in order to allow for the extra trains that would serve the airport, including the provision of a bi directional third track in the centre of the existing two tracks between Shields and Arkleston Junctions, the restoration of the four track layout between Arkleston and Wallneuk Junctions, and extensive replacement of life expired signalling along the whole line. Although the airport link itself was subsequently cancelled in 2009 as a result of public spending cuts, the joint line works were continued as the Paisley Corridor Improvements Project and completed in 2012.

On 22 February 1855 the 6.00 a. m. Dumfries to Glasgow train was brought to a stand on the Joint Line by a derailment due to a broken tyre. One of the passenger coaches had its doors locked, and before the guard could release the occupants, the 9.15 a. m. Greenock to Glasgow train ran into the rear of the train. One person was killed and several were injured. It was stated at the inquiry that the Joint Committee had issued no printed operating instructions.</blockquote>

A signalman's error led to a collision at Penilee, at the west end of the present Hillington West station, on the afternoon of 9 September 1880, not long after the commissioning of the four track layout. A mineral train from Hurlford to Glasgow was plodding along the Up Goods Line. It was a heavy train, with a lot of pig iron. The engine was no. 139, an 0 4 2 of Patrick Stirling's design Two Hurlford men were in charge, driver James Lauderdale and fireman Andrew Gilchrist They got to Penilee and were held at the starter, for a ballast was working in the section to Cardonald. After about twelve minutes, the Penilee signalman waved them back, intending to put them on to the Up Passenger Line, to resume their journey on that. The man was tired at the end of a long shift, probably rather strange to the new set up. By some incredible error he opened not one crossover, but two, and the train propelled back on to the Up Passenger and then on to the Down Passenger! The signalman then restored his levers and pulled off for the 4 o'clock Caley express Glasgow to Greenock. Jimmy Lauderdale, on 139, was a bit puzzled by all this. But they were all new to the four track, and he supposed it was all right. Then the signalman gave them a green flag from the box, so Lauderdale started pulling forward to see what he wanted. But the guard had spotted the down signals all off; thoroughly alarmed, he began running forward and shouting, and presently Lauderdale heard him and stopped. But it was too late then to do anything. The express was 200 yards away, coming 40 miles an hour. No. 139's crew cleared out and went over the wall, and the express went head on into 139. It was quite a bad smash. The guard and two passengers were killed. The fireman and another passenger died later. The driver escaped with severe bruising. There was very nearly another collision immediately after, for a Caley mineral from Lesmahagow was coming on the Down Goods line. Its driver saw the crash occur and managed to pull up just in time.

There was an accident to the west side of Shields Junction on 30 August 1973 when an Inverclyde Line service from Wemyss Bay to Glasgow Central crashed into the rear of an Ayrshire Coast Line service from Ayr which was just starting away from a signal. The western end of the line was the scene of a railway accident, on 16 April 1979, when an Inverclyde Line service from Glasgow Central to Wemyss Bay crossed from the Down Fast Line to the Down Gourock Line at Wallneuk Junction, immediately to the east of Paisley Gilmour Street railway station. It collided head on with an Ayrshire Coast Line special service from Ayr, which had left Platform 2 against a red signal.