Introduction
The Caledonian Railway Company was well supported by Glasgow and Edinburgh shareholders; more than half of its shares were held in England. The total capital at the grouping was £57 million.
It was an integrated railway company, in that it built and owned both the railway lines and the trains. It had a locomotive works, St. Rollox railway works, in Springburn, Glasgow. The works became part of British Rail and is still in use as a railway maintenance depot. From its headquarters in Glasgow, the company controlled a total length of line, including sidings, of 2,827 miles (4,550 km). It was also the owner or part owner of steamers, hotels (including the Caledonian Hotel at Edinburgh), docks, and harbours; and of two canals, the Forth and Clyde Navigation and the Monkland.
The company was formed in the 1830s to link local railways around Glasgow and Edinburgh to the railway network in England, at Carlisle. It sought to open the only cross-border main line (it was thought that only one main line was needed). Its empire was then extended to cover the triangle: Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh; and later reached out to serve Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen and Dumfries. The cross-border services were operated in conjunction with the London and North Western Railway, the carriages being owned jointly as the West Coast Joint Stock.
In the Scottish Lowlands it competed against both the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and the North British Railway; but, in the case of the G&SWR, not north of the River Clyde. There was little or no competition north of Oban, Ballachulish, Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen; this area was served mainly by the Highland Railway.
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