Cleland and Midcalder Line is a historic railway line in Scotland. Built by the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...

and opened in 1869, it provides a link between Glasgow and Edinburgh through the mining communities of

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

and

West Lothian West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...

History

The line was built by the

to serve a variety of industrial locations, including collieries, iron mines and an oil works near

Addiewell Addiewell (, ) is a former mining village in the Scottish council area of West Lothian. Historically it lies within the County of Midlothian. A new prison, HMP Addiewell, opened in 2008. There are two separate districts, Addiebrownhill and Lo ...

. It followed the route of an earlier private industrial line built to serve a number of mines in the area. The line became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

at the

1923 Grouping The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grou ...

, then the Scottish Region of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

upon

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

in January 1948. None of the industries once served by the line still survive - the last of the collieries served by it (at Polkemmet) having closed down in 1986.

Connections to other lines

Clydesdale Junction Railway The Clydesdale Junction Railway company was formed to build a railway connecting Motherwell and Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton with Glasgow, in Scotland. Conceived for local journeys, it was used by the main line Caledonian Railway to get ...

at Uddingston Junction * Caledonian Railway Main Line (Carstairs to Greenhill Junction) at Mossend Junctions and Midcalder Junction * Wishaw Deviation Line at Holytown South Junction *

Wishaw and Coltness Railway The Wishaw and Coltness Railway was an early Scottish mineral railway. It ran for approximately from Chapel Colliery, at Newmains in North Lanarkshire connecting to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway near Whifflet, giving a means of transpor ...

at Newarthill and Cleland Junctions * Caledonian Railway Main Line (Carstairs to Edinburgh) at Midcalder Junction

Current operations

The line is open, being electrified between Uddingston Junction and Holytown South Junction. *

Shotts Line The Shotts Line is a suburban railway line in Scotland linking and via . It is one of the four rail links between the two cities. Between Glasgow Central and , the line is shared with the West Coast Main Line (WCML), before branching off to ...

trains operate along the whole length of the line. *

Argyle Line The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Arg ...

trains operate on the electrified section between Uddingston and Holytown South Junctions. * Occasional

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

History

Connections to other lines

Current operations

References

Notes

Sources