The Route
Note: As the railway was operated by hauliers and used horse traction, modern concepts of signalling and running lines and sidings did not yet apply. Throughout these routes there were numerous very small coal pits and ironstone pits, and where they were immediately adjacent to the line, it is likely that empty wagons were manhandled off the running line to stand next to the pit on hard standing without rails; and when loaded they were lifted back to the track for onward conveyance. It was only with the introduction of passenger operation that the notion of "stations" became important.
Although the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway's main line ran from Palacecraig, south-east of Airdrie, to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, it had a short branch to Kipps, west of Airdrie, where they had a mechanical workshop, Mosside Works, as well as serving pits there. Immediately east of the siding complex there, a branch diverged to Kippsbyre Colliery; it is not clear whether this was a M&KR branch or a Ballochney Railway branch. It originally faced eastbound trains, but its direction was reversed between 1860 and 1879.
Read more about this topic: Ballochney Railway
Famous quotes containing the word route:
“By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of space—out of time.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)