Records of the Glasgow, Dumbarton & Helensburgh Railway Co, Scotland

• Legal papers concerning the case of the Glasgow, Dumbarton & Helensburgh Railway against Captain John Campbell of Possil 1855-1856

The Glasgow, Dumbarton & Helensburgh Railway Co was authorised in 1855  to build a railway linking Glasgow, Scotland, to Helensburgh, Argyll & Bute, Scotland. The line was opened in 1858  and provided the first continuous line of railway along the north banks of the river Clyde. From its junction with the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway Co line at Cowlairs, Glasgow, it ran via Possil, Maryhill, Temple, Kilbowie and Old Kilpatrick to meet the Caledonian & Dunbartonshire Junction Railway at Bowling, West Dunbartonshire. From here it continued onto Helensburgh. The section of line between Dumbarton (Dalreoch Junction) and Bowling was built by the Caledonian & Dunbartonshire Junction Railway and was shared with the Helensburgh company paying half the cost of a bridge previously built by the Caledonian & Dunbartonshire. The companies formed a joint committee of management and joint announcements appeared as The Dunbartonshire Railways.

The company fell out with the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway Co over the use of its Queen Street station, Glasgow, and the Caledonian Railway Co was quick to offer better terms for the use of its Buchannan Street station in the city. When the line opened in May 1858  the trains ran to Buchannan Street, but by the end of June and agreement had been reached with the Edinburgh & Glasgow and the trains went to the more convenient Queen Street station.

The Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway Co absorbed the Glasgow, Dumbarton & Helensburgh Railway Co and the Caledonian & Dunbartonshire Junction Railway in August 1862  and the Edinburgh & Glasgow was in turn purchased by the North British Railway Co in July 1865  .

Source: David Thomas,A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland(Newton Abbot, 1971)

The arrangement of this material reflects the original order in which it was received

Open

Loan : Mitchells, Johnston & Co : Glasgow : prior to 1966

The archive forms part of the Scottish Railways Collection held by Glasgow University Archive Services, finding aid reference GB 248 UGD 008

Digital file level list available in searchroom

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)1631) and London (NRA21659)

No known copies

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the University Archivist

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use & condition of documents

This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 248 procedures

Held by Mitchells, Johnston & Co , solicitors, Glasgow

None expected

GB 234 BR/GDH Register, cashbook and ledger of the Glasgow, Dumbarton & Helensburgh Railway Co (Nation Archives of Scotland)

GB 234 BR/CDD, GD260 Records of the Caledonian & Dumbarton Junction Railway

GB 248 UGD 008 The Scottish Railway Collection

GB 248 UGD 008/1 Records of the North British Railway Co

GB 248 UGD 008/7 Records of the Caledonian Railway Co

For contact details of all repositories with a GB code, see the Archon repository search page

J R Kellet,Railways and Victorian Cities(London, 1979)

This material is original

No alterations made to date