Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway

Introduction

This railway was closed but has largely been re-opened as the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved] by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society. The curve to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was built as part of the original line although this is now achieved via a reversing spur on a similar alignment but requiring reversal.



Dates

17/03/1851Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Causewayend to Bo'ness [1st] opened.
  /  /1875Bo'ness Dock
Authorisation to build a wet dock on the east side of Bo'ness Harbour. The dock would be served by the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway with coal hoists at the east end of the dock. A timber basin was also added - located to the south of today's Bo'ness station, now the car park.
  /  /1876Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Line extended east to Bridgeness No 6 Colliery.
15/07/1897Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Caledonian Railway granted running powers to Bo'ness [1st] and Bo'ness Dock.
01/02/1899Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Caledonian Railway starts to operate over line.
01/07/1899Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Caledonian Railway ceases to operate over line.
01/05/1930Monkland and Kirkintilloch RailwayBallochney Railway Slamannan Railway Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Coatbridge (Greenside Junction) (excluded) to Manuel Low Level (excluded) closed to passengers. Commonhead, Rawyards, Airdrie Hallcraig Street, Whiterigg stations on the Ballochney Railway closed. Longriggend, Slamannan, Avonbridge, Blackston Junction, Bowhouse, Causewayend [MR] [2nd] closed.
01/05/1933Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Manuel Low Level to Bo'ness Low Junction (excluded) closed to passengers. Manuel Low Level closed.
07/05/1956Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Bo'ness [1st] to Polmont (Boness Junction) closed to passengers.
19/07/1965Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Bo'ness [1st] to Kinneil Colliery (excluded) closed to freight.
19/07/1975Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Kinneil Colliery to Bo'ness Junction closed.
  /  /1979Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Scottish Railway Preservation Society starts to build line at Bo'ness.
  /  /1981Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
New Bo'ness station opened by Scottish Railway Preservation Society.
  /  /1981Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Opening ceremony at Bo'ness for the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved].
  /  /1987Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Kinneil station opened by Scottish Railway Preservation Society.
  /  /1989Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Birkhill station opened by Scottish Railway Preservation Society.
  /  /1989South of Scotland Electricity Board
Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Using track recovered from Kincardine Power Station the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway was extended 3.5 miles from Kinneil to Birkhill (with support from Falkirk District Council, Central Regional Council and the Scottish Tourist Board).
  /  /1990Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Scottish Railway Preservation Society completes Bo'ness line to Manuel Junction (A station was opened here and the line may be extended to join the Union Canal).
  /  /1995Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Scottish Railway Museum opens as the Scottish Railway Exhibition at Bo'ness.
16/08/2001Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Artemis motorised Mk3 Driving Van Trailer (82113 renumbered at 19001) tested on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved] .
  /09/2001Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Virgin Trains uses the preserved line, the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, for defensive driving training.
27/03/2010Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway
Commissioning of the upgrading of 1.5 mile extension (cost £125,000).

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Causewayend to Bo^ness

Causewayend Incline Foot signal box was located here, closed in 1930 when the line closed to passengers. The box was to the south of the basin sidings and north of the Manuel low level line.
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See also
Slamannan Railway
Slamannan Junction Railway


This dismantled bridge carried the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway from Causewayend Junction to Bo'ness. The view is looking north towards ...
Duncan Ross 22/04/2023
Looking south in 1994 to the abutment of the 1851 bridge over the Union Canal which carried the extension of the Slamannan Railway to Bo'ness. Off to ...
Bill Roberton //1994
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This was the low level of an interchange station. The station was to the north of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway embankment. There was an interchange with its Manuel High Level station.
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The island platform of Manuel Low Level station in 1999. The bay is to the right and through platform to the left. View looks south to the E&G. The ...
Ewan Crawford //1999
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This was the junction between two arms of the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway. The line from the Bo'ness [1st] terminus ran south and divided here with a curve to the west going to meet the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway at Bo'ness High Junction and another route continuing under the E&G to Causewayend Junction. In its original state, before Manuel Low opened, both ...

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This six arch single track masonry viaduct crosses the River Avon at Avonbank, just south of Birkhill. The viaduct is 345 ft long overall and 68 ft high.
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Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No.419 hauls the two preserved Caledonian Railway coaches over Avonbank Viaduct on an SRPS photo charter on 4th November ...
John Gray 04/11/2019
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This fireclay mine was to the west of Birkhill station and by the River Avon. It produced clay for heat resistant bricks. It consisted of several pits and had its own narrow gauge line bridge over the River Avon. It was operated by P&M Hurll.
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Historically there was no station at Birkhill. This is a new station with old buildings. The main station building is from Monifieth and prior to reassembly at Birkhill was used at the Glasgow Garden Festival.
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Platform scene at Birkhill in March 2018.
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John Yellowlees 10/03/2018
Coupled locos 20020 and 14901 cross the points at the end of the runround loop south of Birkhill Station in 1992, when this was the terminus of the ...
Charlie Niven //1992
Caley 0-4-4T running round its Train at Birkhill in 2003. ...
Gordon Steel /06/2003
Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No.419 approaches Birkhill, hauling the two preserved C.R. coaches, during the SRPS steam gala on 2nd November 2019.
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John Gray 02/11/2019
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This was a small station to the north west of Kinneil. Due to misspelling in timetables it was also known as Kinniel. The station had a timber platform and small station building, more of a shelter.
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J38 0-6-0 65914 at Kinneil, with the Scottish Rambler No 5 railtour, on 11th April 1966. ...
Robin McGregor 11/04/1966
During the Kinneil stop of the Scottish Rambler No 5 railtour, J38 65914 left the train to shunt some wagons. I don't recall exactly what was going ...
Robin McGregor 11/04/1966
J38 65914 stands at Kinneil alongside the Scottish Rambler No 5 Railtour on 11 April 1966 having brought the train in from Stirling where it ...
Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) 11/04/1966
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Looking along the Kinneil Colliery branch in July 1982 at the place where tracklifting had stopped. ...
Bill Roberton /07/1982
The new track at Kinneil looking west on the temporary way in 1982. The present alignment of the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway is a little further to ...
Bill Roberton //1982
This works train is on a surviving part of the branch at Kinneil Colliery. At the same time the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway was being laid nearby - ...
Bill Roberton //1982
The temporary way: track being reinstated alongside the closed Kinneil Colliery in 1982. This view looking east towards the new Bo'ness Station. The ...
Bill Roberton /07/1982
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This iron works had four blast furnaces and was owned by William Wilson and Co. The furnaces were charged on the south side, with a tramway running south and east to a number of ironstone and coal pits (Kinneil Tramway). On the north side were the pig iron, foundry and smithy sidings, connected to the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway. Slag was deposited to the north, north west ...

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Among a large group of withdrawn locomotives stored at Bo'ness docks in 1962 was Fort William's K1 2-6-0 62031. Dieselisation of the West Highland ...
Robin McGregor 19/12/1962
54465 at Bo'ness during the Branch Line Society rail tour from Polmont on 7 May 1960. The pair of ex-Caledonian coaches used on the tour can be seen ...
Stuart Sellar 07/05/1960
Boness - Polmont branch trains. At Boness. NB 4.4.2T 7468. (Wet forenoon). ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 25/09/1948
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Privately owned Swedish Railways B class 1313 shunts Scandinavian coaching stock at Bo'ness in 1985. The loco is now at the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway ...
Bill Roberton //1985
Neilson & Co. 0-4-0ST 'Kelton Fell', No.2203 of 1876, on display in the Bo'ness museum building in August 2022. This loco may be heading for ...
Bill Roberton 09/08/2022
Coltness No.1, a Neilson Reid 0-6-0T (5710 of 1899), leaves Bo'ness with a short train on 28 May 2006.
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Bill Roberton 28/05/2006
Ex-BSC Clydebridge Steelworks No 1 R&H 165DE 412439, photographed in the yard at SRPS Boness in January 2005. ...
John Furnevel 24/01/2005
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This museum is in exhibition halls located at Bo'ness, just north of the preserved station on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved]. The extensive collection includes locomotives, carriages, wagons and other items.
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Manuel Curve

This was the junction between two arms of the Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway. The line from the Bo'ness [1st] terminus ran south and divided here with a curve to the west going to meet the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway at Bo'ness High Junction and another route continuing under the E&G to Causewayend Junction. In its original state, before Manuel Low opened, both ...

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This is a relatively new station, opened in 2013. It is the southern terminus of the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved]. It is located at the reversing spur at the southern end of the line from which the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway main line may be entered from the west. There are no platforms on the main line, only a single track on the preserved line.
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The station you can't leave as it has no public access. NCB No 19 has arrived from Bo'ness with the 14.10. It will run round and go back with, we ...
David Panton 03/09/2016
Scene at the Boness and Kinneil terminus at Manuel on Saturday 9 April 2011 with 27001 about to return having run round its train from Boness. ...
John Yellowlees 09/04/2011
The 'D-train' battery powered 230002 halted at Manuel in October 2018. ...
John Yellowlees 11/10/2018
There were two stations at Manuel, located between Polmont and Linlithgow. A high level station (closed to passengers in 1967) stood on the E&G main ...
David Panton //
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This is the junction for the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway [Preserved] located at the west end of the former Manuel High Level station. Access to the line is by reversal from the eastbound line of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway to a headshunt on the north side of the line.
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See also
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
The Strathspey Railway Association Strathmore Express takes the Kinneil branch past Boness Junction signal box on 25 May 1974. ...
Bill Roberton 25/05/1974
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