Opening
The line is officially quoted to have opened on 1 October 1826, but the section north of Gartsherrie at least must have opened during May 1826; A coal merchant, James Shillinglaw advertised coal from Gartsherrie for sale in Edinburgh:
"The Gartshearie Coal (from the Monkland Coal-Field) is now introduced for the first time in Edinburgh, in consequence of the opening of the Kirkintilloch Railway."
The railway did not own wagons or horses to pull them, and independent hauliers operated over the line, paying the company a toll for the privilege. From 1835 the company started to acquire its own fleet of wagons.
Read more about this topic: Monkland And Kirkintilloch Railway
Famous quotes containing the word opening:
“The rangey bough anticipated fruit
With snowballs cupped in every opening bud.
The road alone maintained itself in mud....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“The current of our thoughts made as sudden bends as the river, which was continually opening new prospects to the east or south, but we are aware that rivers flow most rapidly and shallowest at these points.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)