Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway

Introduction

This railway is still open. This railway runs between Balloch and Bowling via Dumbarton Central. A long section of the line from Dumbarton East Junction to Bowling is closed. The line opened between Balloch and Bowling in 1850. George Burns, the ship owner and operator and a founding partner of Cunard, had a controlling shareholding in the company until 1851. Ships of G & J Burns sailed from Glasgow's Broomielaw Quay to Bowling Frisky Wharf and also on Loch Lomond from Balloch Pier. The company is known by a number of different names and the name and spellings used in the 1846 Act are used here. Not all the authorised lines were built, the line failed to reach either Helensburgh or Glasgow. This confusion is due to the modern standardised spellings; Dumbarton (the town) and Dunbartonshire (the district). Further the word Junction is sometimes omitted. This is compounded by the leading railway author and historian John Thomas varying the name of the line between his various books. As a result the company known by many names including: the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Railway, the Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway, the West Dunbartonshire Railway and the Dunbartonshire Railway.



Dates

  /  /    Dugald Drummond
With the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway.
01/01/1840Dugald Drummond
Born in Ardrossan, father permanent way inspector of the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway. Older brother of Peter Drummond (born 1850).
  /  /1846Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Act receives Royal assent. The Act included provision for the Caledonian Railway to purchase the line (although this did not happen a portion through Dumbarton station did end up being partly Caledonian owned).
  /  /1846Forth and Clyde Canal
Act to allow Bowling Harbour to be created and a new sea lock opened out into it from Bowling Canal Basin. Authorisation to expand the harbour in anticipation of the opening of the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway.
  /  /1847Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Deviation from original route and branches authorised.
15/07/1850Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Opened from Balloch [1st] via Dumbarton to Bowling on the River Clyde, and beside the Forth and Clyde Canal. Steamers ran in connection with the line on Loch Lomond and the River Clyde. A turntable is installed to the north west of the Balloch [1st] station.
  /  /1851Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
The Plover, which connected from Bowling (terminus of the railway) to Broomielaw Quay suffers a violent boiler explosion at Broomielaw.
  /  /1857Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Bowling station burnt down, Frisky Wharf saved.
  /  /1858Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch [1st] turntable replaced.
14/08/1862Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway absorbed by Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.
  /  /1892Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway Dumbarton and Balloch Joint Railway (Caledonian Railway, Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway and North British Railway Joint)
Cordale Works Branch authorised.
  /  /1895Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch [1st] turntable replaced for impending joint ownership of line for larger Caledonian Railway locomotives.
01/10/1896Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway Dumbarton and Balloch Joint Railway (Caledonian Railway, Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway and North British Railway Joint)
The North British Railway is obliged to put its Dumbarton Central to Balloch Pier line into joint ownership with the Caledonian Railway to stop the Caledonian Railway from building a second railway (the proposed Dumbarton, Jamestown and Loch Lomond Railway) from Dumbarton to Balloch. The North British Railway now has to pay access charges for its section between Dalreoch Junction and Dumbarton East Junction. The Caledonian Railway is, from this date, admitted to the Balloch line.
30/12/1907Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway Dumbarton and Balloch Joint Railway (Caledonian Railway, Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway and North British Railway Joint)
Agreement to lift the toll to the North British Railway at Dalreoch from 15/05/1911.
15/05/1922Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway Dumbarton and Balloch Joint Railway (Caledonian Railway, Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway and North British Railway Joint)
Lifting of toll for North British Railway between Dalreoch Junction and Dumbarton East Junction.
  /  /1938Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch [1st] turntable replaced with a 60ft.
25/04/1960Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Dumbarton East Junction to Bowling (Dunglass Junction) closed to all traffic
13/12/1960Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Transformer explosion at Renton.
29/09/1986Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch Pier closed to passengers. The electric catenary was used to electrify the Sunnyside Junction to Whifflet South Junction line.
24/04/1988Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Balloch station opened, replacing Balloch Central. Balloch signal box, level crossing and the remaining single track to Balloch Central taken out of use on 25th. (New station possibly named Balloch Central initially, although other sources suggest the old station was renamed Balloch prior to closure.)
  /06/1999Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
completion of repair of Dumbarton Central's canopies after storm damage. Barriers erected to block off former eastbound platform.
19/06/1999Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Renton station booking office closed.
  /11/1999Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Renton station 'destaffed'.
27/03/2010Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
King Robert the Bruce Centre opened at Renton station.
20/05/2011Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway
Bridge strike results in bus losing its top deck at Dumbarton Central.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Bowling to Balloch

These sidings were on the south side of the line east of Bowling station. They served both Bowling Harbour (north east corner) and Bowling Basin, the west end of the Forth and Clyde Canal.
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See also
Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway


This tidal harbour, today associated with old hulks lying in the mud exposed at the low tide, is the western entry to the Forth and Clyde Canal. It is enclosed by two structures, a dyke to the west (built 1856 by the Clyde Trustees) and the eastern (built 1846) which was a long timber quayside, now almost totally gone. It was laid out in 1846 when a new sea lock from the western side of ...

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See also
Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway


This signal box was on the north side of the line, east of Bowling station opposite Bowling Harbour. It controlled access to the sidings on the south side of the line which ran to Bowling Canal Basin, of the Forth and Clyde Canal, just to the east and the quay and coal bunkering sidings at the east end of Bowling Harbour, served with mobile cranes.
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See also
Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
The driver of 303 006 goes for a walk in the cab. Eastbound passing under the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire bridge at Bowling. ...
Ewan Crawford //1990
View east towards Glasgow from alongside Bowling Basin signal box on 19 April 1957. Just visible in the centre background is the elevated box on the ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 19/04/1957
Quayside at the east end of Bowling Harbour where the railway had sidings (note sleepers on right). Most of the vessels in the background have now ...
Ewan Crawford //
An up oil train photographed passing Bowling Harbour in April 1957. The locomotive is one of Eastfield sheds J37 0-6-0s no 64541. Bowling Basin Signal ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 19/04/1957
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This is a two platform station in the south of Bowling at at the north west end of Bowling Harbour. Today it is a minimal station with platforms, shelters, parking and a footbridge. It has a interesting history. Between 1850 and 1858 it was a terminus for trains from Balloch and Dumbarton, passengers for Glasgow having to complete their journey by water. It was initially known as ...

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See also
Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
K4 no 61994 heads east towards Glasgow with the West Highland portion of the GB VI railtour, ending 27 April 2013 in Edinburgh. Bowling basin and the ...
John McIntyre 27/04/2013
320305 and 320417 arrive at Bowling with the 1525 hrs service to Motherwell on 02 June 2019. ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2019
334008, on an Edinburgh to Helensburgh service, approaches Bowling station with harbour behind and Erskine Bridge in the background in June 2019. Some ...
John McIntyre 02/06/2019
Flooding at Bowling station has covered the track entirely. Lines all over Scotland are closed as a result of heavy rain. Bowling previously flooded ...
Network Rail 07/10/2023
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This timber steamer pier is now completely derelict. It was to the west of the Bowling Harbour wall outside the harbour itself. It was both a passenger and goods pier.
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This rather battered and left to rot pier is Frisky Wharf. It was the pier alongside Bowling station (on the left) dating from when the station was a ...
Ewan Crawford 18/10/2022
Kilgarth, an Admiralty salvage vessel (pennant no A232), seen at Frisky Wharf in 1987. The vessel was broken up here in 1993. This steamer pier was ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
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This oil terminal was west of Bowling, just west of Dunglass Castle by Dunglass Rock. It was built on the reclaimed north bank of the River Clyde - when the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway opened in 1850 the shoreline was moved to the south of the railway embankment leaving marshy land to its north. The oil terminal began to be laid out in 1919 following the successful ...

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A view from the river of the Dunglass Esso terminal near Bowling in July 1964. After a number of years being cleared, the site is starting to be ...
John McIntyre Collection /07/1964
The former NB mainline at Dunglass looking east. The cut-back line became an ESSO terminal. Closing this section and retaining the L&DR section ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
View from the embankment of the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway looking east over the now lifted tracks of the Bowling Oil Terminal. ...
Ewan Crawford //
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This goods yard was at the end of a long siding from Dumbuck Signal Box, which predated it. The line was on the north side of the line and approached via a reversing spur from the eastbound line. The yard was just south of Milton and finished with a loading bank and sidings.
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Caledonian Railway Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire line, Dumbuck siding. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 13/04/2007
Caledonian Railway Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire line, with Dumbuck siding going off to the left. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 13/04/2007
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This signal box was on the south side of the line just east of the Glasgow Road overbridge and west of the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway overbridge.
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V3 67632 passing Dumbuck on 12 April 1958 with an up Helensburgh train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
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This junction was directly east of Dumbarton Central station. It was formed in 1896. Here the former Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway of 1850 (now owned by the North British Railway) was met by the newly opened Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway.
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See also
Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway
J37 0-6-0 64472 passing Dumbarton East Junction in April 1958 with two brake vans. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
V3 67625 photographed at Dumbarton East Junction on 12 April 1958 at the head of a Helensburgh - Bridgeton train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
Looking south at 303 approaching Dumbarton East. Viewed from the closed NB line in Dumbarton. Dumbarton Central and the former junction are to the ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
A down West Highland train coasts through Dumbarton East Junction on 12 April 1958. Locomotives are Black 5 44973 and K2 61787 Loch Quoich. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
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This is a three platform station on the Helensburgh, Balloch and West Highland Railway lines. The station consists of two island platforms (the northernmost eastbound face is currently out of use with the trackbed overgrown) with a permanent way yard in the sidings at the east end of the station, south side of the line. The station is above street level, the side walls bordering ...

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334031 at Dumbarton Central on 25th July 2017. ...
David Bosher 25/07/2017
320308 just arrived at Dumbarton Central, where it terminated and is now waiting to form a return service to Cumbernauld, on 25th July 2017. ...
David Bosher 25/07/2017
The early afternoon Glasgow to Oban & Mallaig calls at Dumbarton Central on 26 January 2022. 156477 leads sister unit 156476, at least as far as ...
John McIntyre 26/01/2022
334038 leaves Dumbarton Central heading (non stop) for Helensburgh Central on 17th July 2018.
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Beth Crawford 17/07/2018
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This ship engine works was located by the River Leven on either side of the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway immediately east of Leven Viaduct [Dumbarton] and west of Dumbarton Central. It was the works of Denny & Co, the marine engine builders for William Denny & Bros Ltd's Leven Shipbuilding Yard.
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This is a double track girder viaduct over the River Leven between Dalreoch, to the west, and Dumbarton Central, to the east. There are five girder spans.
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Eastbound 303 crossing the Leven Viaduct. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
A Balloch bound service on the North Clyde line photographed crossing the River Leven in September 2012. The train is on the short hop between ...
John Furnevel 09/09/2012
Westbound train crosses Leven Viaduct. Right hand side of photograph spoiled by double exposure ... very cheap camera. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
A 311 heads west over the River Leven. ...
Ewan Crawford //1990
4 of 13 images. more


This is a double track junction to the immediate west of Dalreoch station.
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Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
SPT liveried EMU 334033 slowly approaching Dalreoch Junction on the morning of 8 September 2007 with a train about to come off the Balloch branch. ...
John Furnevel 09/09/2007
334017 takes the Helensburgh line at Dalreoch Junction. ...
Beth Crawford 25/05/2017
A 6-car 320 combination approaching Dalreoch Junction off the Helensburgh line on 9 September 2007 with a morning service to Airdrie. View west from ...
John Furnevel 09/09/2007
Heading for Balloch at Dalreoch Junction. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/11/2006
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Dalreoch is a two platform station with the junction between the Balloch branch and the Helensburgh line immediately to its west. The station has two car parks and a staffed station building. To the east is the Leven Viaduct [Dumbarton] and Dumbarton Central.
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45231 'Sherwood Forester' passes east through Dalreoch, nearly an hour late, en route to Carlisle with 'bubble car' 55022 on the rear. ...
Ewan Crawford 02/10/2023
Eastbound 334 train pulls into Dalreoch. ...
Beth Crawford 18/05/2017
334 heads into the setting sun at Dalreoch. ...
Beth Crawford 18/05/2017
334030 calls at Dalreoch with a service to Helensburgh Central on 22 November 2011. ...
John McIntyre 22/11/2011
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This forge was located north of Dalreoch station and east of the Balloch branch. Opened 1855.
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This box was a little north of Dalreoch Junction and south of Renton. A headshunt made a trailing connection on the west side to the northbound line. By reversal Dalreoch Quarry could be reached by a short line which passed under the main road to the west. The box was on the west side, just south of a road overbridge.
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This was the junction for a goods branch serving Dalquhurn Printworks and Cordale Works. This junction was between Dalreoch (to the south) and Renton (to the north). The goods line ran north following the River Leven, to the east of Renton.
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A train from Balloch passes the one time site of Cordale Branch Junction (on the right) on the last day of 2007. The branch to the Dalquhurn Works ...
Ewan Crawford 31/12/2007
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This is a single platform station, the platform being the former southbound platform. The British Railways built station building still stands, no longer in railway use.
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In the absence of any spare 14th century buildings in the Vale of Leven the disused 1970s station building at Renton serves as the King Robert the ...
David Panton 09/06/2021
The station building at Renton has not been in rail use for some years and it is fair to say that maintenance is suffering as a result. The smell of ...
David Panton 09/06/2021
Southbound train leaves Renton station. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
The station building at Renton on 9 September 2007, looking west along Station Street. ...
John Furnevel 09/09/2007
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This dye works was on the east bank of the River Leven by Bonhill.
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This is a single platform station. There is a modern building on the platform. With road improvements, planners have placed the station in the middle of a large roundabout. There is a car park.
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Examples of the pre-1997 Strathclyde Transport logo are now rare indeed; after all its replacement was itself superseded in 2008. This example is at ...
David Panton 09/06/2021
A Balloch service calls at unpretentious Alexandria on 9 June 2021. Despite what you might have heard, the library at Alexandria is not even singed. I ...
David Panton 09/06/2021
A Balloch service calls at Alexandria on 01 September 2018 in this view northwards along the remaining platform. ...
John McIntyre 01/09/2018
Alexandria looking south. ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
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This factory was built for the Argyll Motor Company. A very fine set of offices formed a frontage onto North Main Street behind which was the factory itself. It is this frontage which remains today.
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This signal box was between Forth and Clyde Junction [Balloch], Balloch, (to the north) and Alexandria station to the south.
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This was a double track junction between the existing Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway of 1850 and the later Forth and Clyde Junction Railway of 1856. The junction was south of Balloch Central and today's Balloch station.
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Forth and Clyde Junction Railway
334033 passes the site of Forth and Clyde Junction as it approaches the bridge carrying the A811 over the railway, a short distance from the present ...
John McIntyre 01/09/2018
Fairburn tank 42126 runs south past Forth and Clyde Junction shortly after setting out from Balloch on 9 July 1957 with a train for Rutherglen. See ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 09/07/1957
Standard 2-6-4T 80006 passing Forth and Clyde Junction on 9 July 1957 with a Rutherglen - Balloch train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 09/07/1957
View south from Balloch in July 1957 over Forth and Clyde Junction. [Ref query 4349] ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 09/07/1957
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This is a single platform station - the platform occupying what was the down track before it was lifted. The station is south of Balloch Road which was formerly crossed by a level crossing to reach Balloch Central.
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Balloch in July 2015. 320310 couldnt get to Loch Lomond, so it set off back towards Glasgow. ...
Ken Strachan 15/07/2015
314209 passes the under-construction Balloch station in 1987. This replaced Balloch Central the following year.
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Bill Roberton //1987
Standing next to the buffers and looking south along the platform at Balloch as 334033 waits to set off back towards Glasgow on 01 September 2018. ...
John McIntyre 01/09/2018
The old SPT livery is still around, though it has an increasingly retro look. The driver of 318 261 climbs aboard to take a train back to Airdrie, ...
David Panton 08/10/2016
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This was a two platform station to the north of the level crossing over Balloch Road. The station building still stands. This was the main station in Balloch, Balloch Pier was to the north. Balloch, to the south of the level crossing, replaced this station.
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This was a minimal shed. Facilities were spread out around the Balloch stations. The shed building had a single covered road and water tank. It was located to the immediate west of Balloch Central and was approached from the north. The turntable was further north (half way to Balloch Pier) on the west side of the line, the brick-lined pit surviving into the 1980s. The coaling bench was on ...

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This was the factory of the British Silk Dyeing Company located west of Balloch Central on the north side of Balloch Road. It was served by a siding from the turntable line south of Balloch Pier station. Approach was from the north with the single track long siding running south and then west to serve the north of the factory site. At the buffer end was a short loop.
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This was a two platform station, an island platform with a long face which ran onto the pier and a shorter bay platform on the west side. Passenger steamers called on the west side of the pier.
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'PS Maid of the Loch' moored at Balloch pier during the winter off season of 1962/1963. ...
Brian Haslehust /01/1963
'PS Maid of the Loch' tied up at Balloch Pier in 1955. Photo by A McIntyre. ...
John McIntyre Collection //1955
Bang on the nose. 'Maid of the Loch' on the Balloch Pier slip in the 1970s. 
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Colin Miller //1975
This is 'Countess Fiona' (ex 'of Breadalbane') out on the slip at Balloch Pier in 1994 when she had undergone a transformation. I don't think she ever ...
Colin Miller //1994
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Dumbarton Goods Branch

This junction was directly east of Dumbarton Central station. It was formed in 1896. Here the former Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway of 1850 (now owned by the North British Railway) was met by the newly opened Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway.
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See also
Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway
J37 0-6-0 64472 passing Dumbarton East Junction in April 1958 with two brake vans. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
V3 67625 photographed at Dumbarton East Junction on 12 April 1958 at the head of a Helensburgh - Bridgeton train. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
Looking south at 303 approaching Dumbarton East. Viewed from the closed NB line in Dumbarton. Dumbarton Central and the former junction are to the ...
Ewan Crawford //1987
A down West Highland train coasts through Dumbarton East Junction on 12 April 1958. Locomotives are Black 5 44973 and K2 61787 Loch Quoich. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 12/04/1958
4 of 5 images. more


This goods yard was to the south of Dumbarton Central. It was approached from Dumbarton East Junction. There was direct access for trains from the east and a reversing spur for trains from the west. A westbound goods loop ran from Dumbarton East Junction to the south end of Dumbarton East station. The goods yard was opened by the [[Dumbarton and Balloch Joint Railway (Caledonian ...

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With the distillery gates behind me this view shows the closed goods line running north to Dumbarton East Junction as it was in 1996. Despite a fair ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
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This building was built in the 1880s as offices for Archibald McMillan & Son. The Elephant & Castle next door to the left has since been ...
Ewan Crawford 18/03/2012
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View in through the security gate of the Ballantyne's distillery in 1996 with Dumbarton Castle beyond. The disused siding into the site can be seen ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
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This was the Denny Shipyard, located on the east bank of a bend of the River Leven in Dumbarton. The symbol of the yard was an elephant, representing Dumbarton (Dumbarton Rock is said to resemble an elephant).
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This was the northern portion of the Leven shipyard of William Denny. A new walkway runs by the new flats on the west side of the old fitting out ...
Ewan Crawford 18/10/2022
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Cordale Branch

This was the junction for a goods branch serving Dalquhurn Printworks and Cordale Works. This junction was between Dalreoch (to the south) and Renton (to the north). The goods line ran north following the River Leven, to the east of Renton.
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A train from Balloch passes the one time site of Cordale Branch Junction (on the right) on the last day of 2007. The branch to the Dalquhurn Works ...
Ewan Crawford 31/12/2007
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This bleachworks was located by Dalquhurn Point on the west bank of the River Leven where washed cloth could be laid out on the level ground to bleach in sunlight.
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Dillichip Branch

This viaduct gave access to the Dillichip Dye Works from the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway. Now removed.
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The deck of the 'Black Bridge' over the River Leven which linked the Dillichip Works on the east bank to the Balloch line. The bridge was demolished ...
Ewan Crawford 03/10/2004
Black Bridge carried the branch from the LMS/LNER joint branch line over the River Leven to the Dillichip Dye Works, now bonded whisky ...
Alistair MacKenzie 02/04/2007
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This dye works was on the east bank of the River Leven by Bonhill.
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