Stobcross Railway
As industry and housing developed further west the line became the stem of further branches, and in 1886 the sub-surface Glasgow City and District Railway connected through Queen Street Low Level to Stobcross.
[1][page needed] As shipping activity increased, larger and more numerous vessels required to berth in Glasgow and it was obvious that they could not be accommodated in the central area.
[2][page needed] The new facility was obviously going to make considerable changes to commodity flows in Glasgow, and the North British Railway set about constructing a branch line to serve the dock.
Even though the route avoided the main city area, considerable difficulty and expense arose from the necessary land acquisition.
The G&SWR also applied for access but their line was to run west from Dunlop Street across St Enoch square, continuing along the bank of the Clyde, and this scheme was refused by Parliament.
[4][page needed] The NBR went to considerable lengths to make the exercise of the Caledonian Railway's running powers as inconvenient as possible; this included various forms of delay for supposed operational reasons, and the refusal to allow stabling of Caledonian locomotives at Stobcross, resulting in much wasteful light running.
[1][page needed] It was not just berthing of ships that was moving down river; by this time a small industrial complex had established at Whiteinch.
It too was not close to the original GD&HR line and the nominally independent Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Railway was opened on 1 December 1882 to serve it.
[1][page needed] During all this time, as heavy industry, shipbuilding and quay facilities were moving west, the NBR's North Clyde network continued to be accessed only from Cowlairs via Maryhill, a long way round.
A short branch was opened on the same day from Partick Junction (on the original Stobcross line) to a terminus at Hyndland.
The rival Caledonian Railway still had the smallest of toeholds on the north bank, until in the years 1894 to 1896 the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway opened, from the Caledonian main line east of Buchanan Street, arcing round in a similar northerly arc to the Stobcross line, then turning west to reach Dumbarton.
However, from 1993 a new local passenger service has been resumed, from Glasgow Queen Street to Maryhill, and since 2005 it has been extended to Anniesland on the former Stobcross Railway.
[9][page needed] The locations on the Stobcross Railway were: Almost all of the route is still open as of September 2015: most of it forms part of the North Clyde Line electric commuter network and the remainder at the northern end is used by Maryhill Line DMU services between Maryhill and Anniesland.
Network Rail began work in the summer of 2015 to reinstate the former Knightswood South Junction connection near Anniesland to allow through running once more between Hyndland & Partick and Maryhill via Kelvindale.
The only parts of the route that are no longer in use are the goods yards at Partickhill and the Queen's Dock and the old terminus station at Hyndland.
