Caledonian Railway - Early History

Early History

The earliest railways in Scotland and England were unconnected. Before the Caledonian railway, the quickest journey between Glasgow and London would have been Glasgow to Liverpool by sea and then Liverpool to London by train. From March 1841 it was possible to catch the train between Glasgow and Greenock, then travel between Greenock and Liverpool by sea; and then to London by train (see below).

A railway link from London to the north of England was developed in piecemeal fashion. From about 1838 the London and Birmingham Railway had linked those two destinations; the Grand Junction Railway linked Birmingham to Warrington; the North Union Railway was projected to reach Preston; and the Grand Junction Railway intended to extend the line to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. They got their engineer Joseph Locke to survey a route from Carlisle. The obvious way was to follow Thomas Telford's coach road through Annandale and Clydesdale. Locke did not believe a locomotive could climb the hills at Moffat and his preferred route was a longer route through Nithsdale to link up with the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway. Locke was persuaded to resurvey the Annandale route.

This route was opened up as a railway line, the Caledonian Railway. The Caledonian wished to ensure that it was the only railway line built between Carlisle and Scotland, but they did not succeed in this. Two other lines were opened from Carlisle: these rival lines were the Glasgow and South Western Railway to Glasgow and the Waverley Line to Edinburgh.

After the Caledonian main line opened in 1849 it was possible to travel between London and Glasgow, by express train, without needing to change trains. It cut the total journey time to 12.5 hours.