Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway - Passengers

Passengers

The first known passenger service on the Monkland lines started on 8 July 1828; it was from the Leaend station (Serving Airdrie, located on the Ballochney Railway to Kirkintilloch over the M&KR. It seems to have been very short-lived.

When the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway opened its line it operated a service between Leaend and its Townhead terminus in Glasgow, running over part of the Ballochney Railway and part of the M&KR Kipps branch, and calling at The Howes in Coatbridge. At first, from 1 June 1831 this was a horse-drawn service, but a few weeks later the G&GR put a locomotive, called St Rollox on, running as far as Gartsherrie. The M&KR would not allow the locomotive over their line, so horse traction took over from there to Leaend. This service continued until 1843. Bradshaw's Guide shows, in a section headed Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway, passenger trains from Glasgow to Airdrie, &c, at 7½ and 10½ a.m., 1½ and 4½ p.m. Airdrie to Glasgow, &c, 8¾ and 11¾ a.m., 2¾ and 5¾ p.m. Fares, Glasgow and Airdrie 1s. 0d.-- 6d.

In June 1831 there was a horse-drawn service from Calder Iron Works (on the M&KR) to Gartsherrie, connecting there with the Leaend to Glasgow service, and in the summer of 1832 the G&GR advertised a service from Cairnhill Bridge (near the Calder Iron Works) to Glasgow, and also from "Clarkston": the Clarkston Wester Moffat location on the Ballochney Railway, via Kipps:

A Railway Carriage starts from Clarkston and Cairnhill Bridge every Wednesday at a quarter to 8 o'clock A.M. and returns with the evening train from the Railway Depot.

Another advertisement dated 15 October 1832 announced that the Clarkston and Cairnhill carriages were "now discontinued".

There does not seem to have been much attempt at passenger business in later years, nor on the Kirkintilloch main line. However on and from 26 December 1844, four trains ran each way daily from the Hallcraig Street station at Airdrie (on the Ballochney line) to an exchange station at the point of intersection with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, somewhat to the east of the present Lenzie station. This must be the Woodley station indicated by Cobb (see below). The Ballochney company purchased seven second-hand coaches from the Midland Railway for the service. Also in December 1844, a horse-drawn passenger conveyance ran from Kirkintilloch to the Bothin Viaduct, at the point of intersection, for connectional purposes, but this seems to have been short-lived. (A rail connection was made between the two lines much later; the Edinburgh and Glasgow line was built to standard gauge.)

Cobb indicates a number of passenger stations during M&KR days, some of which are difficult to cross-reference with other sources, or with their dates. Taking the other stations from north to south during M&KR days:

• Kirkintilloch Basin, open from 1828 at the northern terminus
• Woodley; the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway had a station called Kirkintilloch, on the modern Easter Garngaber Road; the M&KR opened Woodley station a little to the north on its line in 1844; connecting passengers would have had a 100 yards walk; Woodley closed in 1845
• Bridgend, at Gartferry Road, opened about 1839 and closed 1851
• Bedlay, opened 1849 (i.e. after the end of the M&KR's independent existence) and closed again the same year; Cobb calls this Bedlay Halt, a very unusual term at this early date; located at Avenuehead Road
• Garnqueen, probably at Main Street, opened 1849 (also after the end of the M&KR) and closed in 1851
• Gartsherrie, at the junction with the G&GR, opened 1831 and closed in 1849; when the G&GR extended southwards with its own line in 1843 it had its own station close by
• Coatbridge; possibly called The Howes; located east of, and close to the present Central station on the other line; the M&KR was at ground level at this time; it opened in 1849 (but Martin says 1831) and closed in 1851; when the high level line was built in North British Railway days, a station at the same location, but higher up, opened here
• Whifflet; (the community was spelt Whifflat at the time); 1849 - 1851, and again during North British Railway days; Cobb specifically locates this station north of the later Caledonian Railway west-east line to Airdrie; the topography of the time would have made this a challenging location for a station, and a more southerly location on Calder Street would have been easier; however this is speculative (based on Ordnance Survey maps of the period) and must be regarded as uncertain
• Cairnhill Bridge as already mentioned

None of these stations is referred to in the 1843 Bradshaw at or the 1850 Bradshaw