The population of Dolphinton then was 260, and the primary purpose of the lines was to secure territory, rather than to serve the small local community.

The North British Railway line to Dolphinton closed in 1933, though the Leadburn to Macbie Hill section reopened in 1939 to serve an army camp and remained open until 1960.

The massive ironworks industry of the Monklands, centred on Coatbridge, was located in Caledonian territory, and the furnaces had a great appetite for coal.

The Caledonian was known to be interested in getting its own railway access to the Lothian coalfields, an area that the North British considered belonged to themselves.

At this period the NBR practice was to encourage and support local, nominally independent railway companies, intending to take them over in later years when their profitability had become established.

[3] The two proposed lines were considered together in the 1862 parliamentary session, and both were authorised by the Leadburn, Linton and Dolphinton Railway Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict.

The small community, with a population of 260, was to have two railways, both intended for tactical purposes and hardly connected with traffic at Dolphinton itself.

[5][1][2][6] The North British Railway must have been showing its hand with regard to extension westward, for The Scotsman newspaper reported that the LL&DR was "shortly to form a central part of an important trunk line".

[1] In the 1866 parliamentary session, the absorption by the NBR of the LL&DR was authorised on 16 July by the North British and Leadburn, Linton, and Dolphinton Railways Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict.

[8][10] The Caledonian line opened on 1 March 1867; it was suspended from 12 September 1932 until 17 July 1933, and finally closed to all traffic on 4 June 1945.