At the time the River Clyde was not accessible to sea-going ships, and the intention was to compete with riverboats that brought goods to and from the city.

In fact, passenger traffic proved surprisingly buoyant, and connecting steamer services to island resorts in the Firth of Clyde provided a very great source of business.

With that growth came the need for transport of manufactured goods and raw materials, and at first crude horse-operated tramways responded to that demand, particularly short lines built to convey minerals to waterways.

The River Clyde itself was a major traffic artery, but difficult navigational problems made it impossible for large vessels to reach the city.

Increasingly, sea-going ships berthed at Greenock, and goods were trans-shipped there to smaller boats that could navigate the Clyde.

[1] Greenock itself grew in importance; it had a harbour in 1710 and became a focus for international trade, and the town developed numerous industries, including shipbuilding, metalworking, sugar refining and hat making.

This led to a parliamentary bill, but at the same time another proposed railway, the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway was being presented; the two lines would have very similar routes between Glasgow and Paisley, and it became plain that Parliament would be reluctant to authorise two adjacent lines; moreover the landowners would be hostile to the double loss of amenity.

[8] The contract for the first seven miles of the railway was agreed in 1839, the engineer being Joseph Locke supported by his partner John Errington; the contractor was Thomas Brassey.

[11] The company paid a good dividend, an annualised equivalent of 4% was declared at the first half-yearly meeting in 1841, but this was before any actual operating income had come in.

In fact, this was not proceeded with, and in time the Caledonian relented, and on 26 May 1851 an amalgamation agreement was signed; it was enacted by Parliament on 7 August 1851.

The journey time was critical, and goods and parcels traffic for the steamers was required to be sent down by the previous train; passengers making the connection hurried through the streets of Greenock.

Rothesay became extremely popular as a resort, and as demand for journeys to and from the islands established, it was recognised that Greenock was not ideal in providing the railhead.

Although the Wemyss Bay company was friendly to the Caledonian, relations were sometimes strained; a joint committee oversaw the operation of the line.

The Greenock and Ayrshire line opened to passenger traffic on 23 December 1869, after several weeks of running goods trains only.

The G&AR had an advantage throughout journey times to Firth of Clyde destinations and abstracted a large share of the business from the Caledonian.

[5] Now another player entered the field: the North British Railway opened a pier at Craigendoran, on the right bank of the Clyde, in 1882.

In 1841 the Greenock station in Cathcart Street had seemed perfect, but as the Clyde steamer trade developed, its location had become a disadvantage; relations with the Wemyss Bay company were often difficult.

The G&AR Bill was revised and gained approval in June, and the Caledonian Railway (Greenock and Gourock Extensions) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict.

After negotiations, the Caledonian abandoned their scheme in 1868, and in 1869 the G&AR opened their line which ran in a tunnel under west end streets down to its terminus as Albert Harbour railway station (later renamed Princes Pier).

[13] The two railway companies put forward rival proposals in November 1865 for a line to Gourock but met strong opposition from feuars of west-end properties.

Adjacent to the Cathcart Street station, the old Wester Greenock castle and Mansion House were demolished in 1886 before taking a tunnel under their grounds in Well Park.

[24][15] From there, work began on 11 March 1888 on the long tunnel which runs under the whole length of Newton Street, continues ahead under its junction with Lyle Road, then curves behind the Mariners Home to emerge at Drums Farm near Fort Matilda station.

[25][26] Spoil from the tunnel and cuttings was used for landfill out from Gourock's Shore Street to the long new wooden wharf for steamboats which extended 0.5 miles (0.80 km) northwards on the west side of the bay, curving westward to the pierhead at Kempock Point.

They instructed the company's general manager James Thompson to write to all the private steamer owners requesting them to call at Gourock Pier, and offering facilities.

The eastern section of the line was reported completed on 3 May 1889, and on 4 May a special train took Caledonian directors over the whole route to show them the progress of the work.

[29] The extension officially opened on 1 June 1889,[30][28] with the first train departing Gourock at 05:25 taking workmen to Greenock and Port Glasgow, driven by the engineer Dugald Drummond who had designed and got built the Caledonian Railway 80 Class "Coast Bogies" for the route.

[1] For some time this proved highly successful, but competition was fierce between the Caledonian (with the CSPC) via Gourock, the G&SWR via their impressive terminal at Greenock, Princes Pier, and the North British Railway via Craigendoran.

[7] After 1900, the carriage of goods assumed increased importance, and the Burgh of Greenock particularly expended considerable effort in improving dock facilities.

After World War II there was a brief resurgence of the holidaymaking spirit of a sail doon the watter but changing social habits brought this to a serious decline in the 1960s, and at length, the steamer connection was distanced from railway operation.

The line between Greenock West and Gourock was closed for tunnel repairs from 5 February 1973 to 20 April 1973, and again from 3 October 1993 to 27 March 1995.