Wishaw and Coltness Railway

The Wishaw and Coltness Railway was an early Scottish mineral railway. It ran for approximately 11 miles from Chapel Colliery, at Newmains in North Lanarkshire connecting to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway near Whifflet, giving a means of transport for minerals around Newmains to market in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Shortage of capital made construction slow, and the line was opened in stages from 1833, opening fully on 9 March 1844.

It was built to the track gauge of 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm), commonly used in Scotland for coal railways. It had several branches serving pits and ironworks.

In 1849 it became part of the Caledonian Railway and sections of the original network form part of the modern West Coast Main Line railway.

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the pace of industrialisation in central Scotland accelerated considerably, generating a huge demand for the raw materials of coal and iron ore. Transport of these heavy materials to market was a key issue. Canals offered some solution to this problem, but railways came to be seen as a more accessible option. The Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was opened in 1828, giving access to Monklands pits to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the Forth and Clyde Canal, vastly reducing the cost of carriage. Pits further afield saw the benefit to their competitors, and thought of constructing their own lines.

A Garturk and Garion Railway Bill was presented to Parliament in 1829 (though Awdry calls it the Garion and Garturk Railway).

During the parliamentary process the name was changed to the Wishaw and Coltness Railway, and under that name it was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 1 June 1829. This authorised "making a railway from Chapel, in the parish of Cambusnethan, ...by Coltness and Gariongill, to join the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway ... in the parish of Old Monkland". Share capital was £80,000 with borrowing powers of £20,000. Tolls were laid down, and "the company may provide carriages for the conveyance of passengers, and charge for each person conveyed a rate of 4d per mile" and "locomotive engines may be used on the railway"

The name of the company refers to the area where minerals would originate. Coltness Colliery was in the area of Wishaw, and both places were some distance from the present-day communities. The northern end of the proposed system was a junction to another railway at Whifflet, and perhaps did not seem an attractive component when the company's name was being chosen.

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