Bonnybridge railway station
| Bonnybridge | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Bonnybridge |
| Area | Falkirk |
| Coordinates | 55°59′51″N 3°53′15″W / 55.9974°N 3.8876°WCoordinates: 55°59′51″N 3°53′15″W / 55.9974°N 3.8876°W |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Caledonian Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Caledonian Railway |
| Post-grouping | LMS |
| Platforms | 2 |
| History | |
| 2 August 1886 | Opened |
| 28 July 1930 | Closed |
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |
| Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z |
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Bonnybridge railway station was a railway station serving the village of Bonnybridge in central Scotland. The station was located on a short branch off the Caledonian Railway line from Coatbridge to Larbert. (There were two other "Bonnybridge" stations, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow main line and the Kilsyth line respectively.)
Bonnybridge was a small town located west of Falkirk in central Scotland. The Forth and Clyde Canal was opened in 1790, and the access to transportation encouraged the development of industry locally. The town was located on the north side of the canal. By the second half of the nineteenth century there were a tile works with a short tramway to the canal, a sawmill, a dyeworks, a smithy and three flour mills. Potash extraction developed later.
When the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened on 1842, this initiated a major change in transport systems, and towns that were connected to the line found that their prosperity rose considerably, and those that were not suffered accordingly. The E&GR line passed a mile or so to the south of the canal.
The Scottish Central Railway (SCR) opened its main line in 1848, connecting at junctions at Greenhill with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway (E&GR) and the Caledonian Railway. In the vicinity of Bonnybridge, the SCR route passed between the E&GR main line and the canal. A station was provided at Greenhill Junction, but this was not convenient for Bonnybridge.
The North British Railway took over the E&GR in 1865, and in May 1870 it opened a Bonnybridge station on the E&GR main line. This was of course somewhat remote from the town, and on the other side of the canal; access to cross the canal was by the so-called Radical Pend, and constricted tunnel under the canal which carried a watercourse to the Bonny Water. Fireclay and brick works developed in the area of the station itself.
The Caledonian Railway absorbed the SCR in 1865. The former SCR route passed closer to the town, and there was pressure from local industry to provide a proper railway connection, and the Caledonian agreed to do so, opening a short branch line from Greenhill on 2 August 1886.
On the south side of the canal, the line connected heavy industry which developed considerably, but the crossing under the canal was inconvenient, until a lift bridge was built in 1900.
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