Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway
| Dates of operation | 1826–1982 |
|---|---|
| Successor | North British Railway |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Previous gauge | 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) |
The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was an early mineral railway running from a colliery at Monklands to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, Scotland. It was the first public railway in Scotland, and the first in Scotland to use locomotive power successfully, and it was a major influence in the successful development of the Lanarkshire iron industry. It opened in 1826.
It was built to enable the cheaper transport of coal to market, breaking the monopoly of the Monkland Canal. It connected with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch, giving onward access not only to Glasgow, but to Edinburgh as well.
The development of good ironstone deposits in the Coatbridge area made the railway successful, and the ironstone pits depended at first on the railway. Horse traction was used at first, but steam locomotive operation was later introduced: the first successful such use in Scotland. Passengers were later carried, and briefly the M&KR formed a section of the principal passenger route between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
In 1848 the Company merged with two adjoining railway lines to become the Monkland Railways; which in turn were absorbed by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. A short length of the original route remains in use in the Coatbridge area.
In the first decades of the 19th century, the City of Glasgow had a large and increasing requirement for coal, for domestic and industrial use, and after the cessation of coal extraction from local pits, this was chiefly supplied from the Lanarkshire coal field, centred near Airdrie, in Monkland. There was also some extraction of iron ore in the area.
The Monkland Canal had opened in 1794, and provided a considerable stimulus to the coalpits in Monkland, and early iron workings were encouraged also. However, before the era of a proper road network, the canal had a virtual monopoly of transport, and it set its prices accordingly; so successful was its exploitation of the situation that it "for many years yielded a dividend of Cent. per cent ... arising solely on its tolls on coal".
A group of interested businessmen promoted the Monkland & Kirkintilloch Railway to link the coal pits and iron works to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Kirkintilloch. If coal and minerals were transshipped there, they could reach not only Glasgow, escaping the monopoly of the Monkland Canal but also Edinburgh.
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