Description of The Route
The Caledonian Railway Main Line runs from Carlisle, via Annandale, Beattock and the Clyde valley, to Central Scotland. The original Glasgow terminus was at Buchanan Street access via the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway (from Coatbridge) which was absorbed by the Caledonian Railway. Buchanan Street remained the Glasgow terminus until 1879, when Glasgow Central become the major Caledonian terminus for trains from the south. Access was via the Clydesdale Junction Railway from Motherwell. A junction at Carstairs provided a connection to Princes Street station in Edinburgh.
The main line from Carlisle was opened as far as Beattock on 9 September 1847. The section from Beattock to Edinburgh opened on 15 February 1848; and the section from Beattock to Glasgow, Buchanan Street, opened on 1 November 1849 for passengers and on 1 January 1849 for goods. The final section of the journey was initially via Monklands, on the Wishaw and Coltness Railway and the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway, which had opened in 1831.
The main line from Carlisle to Glasgow (now to Glasgow Central) and Edinburgh (now to Edinburgh Waverley) is still in use today, although many of the original Caledonian railway stations have closed. It is now the northern section of the West Coast Main Line; the southern section being the former London and North Western Railway.
The main line at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green was the site of the Quintinshill rail crash, which occurred on 22 May 1915. Two rival lines connected to the Caledonian Railway near this point: the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway, at Gretna, later to become the Glasgow and South Western Railway, and still in use today as the Glasgow South Western Line; and the North British Railway's Waverley Line, currently closed in its entirety.
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