Paisley and Renfrew Railway

Renfrew Wharf & Shipyard sidings

King's Inch(G&RDR)

Renfrew Fulbar Street

Renfrew Porterfield(G&RDR)

Renfrew South

Sandyford

Cart Harbour

Paisley Hamilton Street

Paisley Abercorn

Renfrew Road

Paisley Greenlaw Goods station(G&PJR)

Paisley Gilmour Street(G&PJR)

The Paisley and Renfrew railway was an early Scottish railway company that constructed and operated a line between Paisley and the River Clyde at Renfrew Wharf, enabling journeys between Glasgow and Paisley by connecting river boat. The railway was built to the track gauge of 4ft 6in (1,372 mm) on stone block sleepers.

The line opened in 1837 and used locomotive power at first. Its operating costs were much higher than expected, and its income was disappointing, and horse traction was used to save expenditure.

The company sold its line to the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway in 1847, but horse traction continued until 1866 when a connecting curve to the main line was opened, and through trains between Renfrew and Glasgow operated.

Never a flourishing line, it closed to passengers in 1967, and to goods traffic in 1981.

Paisley was an important Burgh at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and most passenger and goods journeys involved a passage along the River Clyde followed by the tedious and slow negotiation of the River Cart. This was such an obstruction that local promoters decided to construct a railway between Renfrew Wharf and the centre of Paisley. They employed the engineers Thomas Grainger and John Miller, who had successfully designed several coal lines in the West of Scotland and elsewhere. The line was authorised by Act of Parliament on 21 July 1835.

Robertson observes that "it was not a line with any prospects of success. The Canal made it unlikely to be of much interest as part of a route between Paisley and Glasgow, and before it even opened an act had been passed for the Glasgow Paisley and Greenock, which was to appropriate traffic in the opposite direction."

The line opened on 3 April 1837, with locomotive working from the start; this was considered important to ensure a speed advantage over waterborne transport. Authorised capital was £23,000 with borrowing powers of £10,000. The railway cost about £30,000 to build.

The company bought three locomotives: Paisley and Renfrew, made by Messrs Murdock, Aikin and Co., Glasgow; and St. Rollox, originally made by Robert Stephenson and Company for the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway and later sold to the Paisley and Renfrew Railway.

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Wikipedia