Burnbrae Goods

Location type

Sidings

Name and dates

Burnbrae Goods (1890-1950)

Opened on the Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway.

Description

Near Milngavie the formation of tracks leading to the Burnbrae Dye Works lie under the Allander Sports Centre. Little remains of the works branch save a railway bridge over a stream which may be found to the north east of the Sports Centre. A single goods shed (now a "Kelvin Timber" outlet) remains at the dye works (site now occupied by the demolished bus garage).

In June 1930 the George Bennie Railplane (an experimental overhead railway) was erected over this siding. This demonstration track was removed in the 1950s. A number of concrete pylon "feet" may be found in this area.

Closer to Milngavie the newer standard tracks (running round the side of a caravan park to the north of the Sports Centre) approached the dye works. The unbuilt Glasgow and North Western Railway was intended to cross the line somewhere near this point. Spurs would have been provided to link the Glasgow and North Western Railway and the Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway. Had this line been built Milngavie would have been directly rail connected to Glencoe, Ballachulish, Fort William and Inverness.

The dyeworks branch did not open with the railway but was opened after the dyeworks expanded.

The dyeworks were originally approached from the south. The method of operation of the branch (either one-engine in steam between Milngavie and Hillfoot, Annett's Key or completely signalled) is unknown to me. After the line was doubled the dyeworks appear to have been approached from a long siding running parallel to the line from the north at Milngavie. This was probably operated from Milngavie signal box.

Tags

Goods


Chronology Dates

  /  /1880Burnbrae Dye Works
Dye works opened beside the Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway by Thomas Reid. Served by a siding, Burnbrae Goods, from the line which originally joined facing south.
08/07/1930Bennie Railplane Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway
Test track opened above the Burnbrae Goods branch of the Milngavie line.

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

An Illustrated History of Glasgow's Railways

Milngavie 1896: Dumbartonshire Sheet 23.08 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Dumbartonshire)

Old Milngavie

The Bennie Railplane

The West Highland Way: From Milngavie to Fort William (Cicerone guides)