General Terminus

Location type

Place

Name and dates

General Terminus (1848-1987)

Opened on the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway.

Description

This important large mineral terminus served the General Terminus Quay on the south bank of the River Clyde.

It was built with a considerable fan of rails finishing at the quayside. The terminus replaced the earlier, and smaller, depot at Windmillcroft Quay, which was to the east. The quayside was approached by eight groups of sidings and a quayside line was reached by turnplates. There were four cranes.

The site was re-built several times. It was to have nine approach lines and include Mavisbank Quay and the Princes Dock to the west and Springfield Quay and the Kingston Dock to the east, all rail served.

The scale of the site can be gauged by its being approached by a railway eight tracks wide to the south and that the Caledonian Railway (who owned it), North British Railway and Glasgow and South Western Railway all made use of it, the latter two approaching by the jointly owned City of Glasgow Union Railway.

Latterly, after refitting as a iron ore terminus in the 1950s, it was a coal and iron ore import terminal largely used in connection with the Clyde Iron Works and the new Ravenscraig Steel Works. There were three large cranes, a conveyor system and large loading shed.

By 1960 it was recognised that General Terminus was not suitable for modern bulk iron ore carriers. Constant dredging of the Clyde was required. Vessels of 25,000 ton deadweight could be handled but typical sizes were now of 65,000 with 200,000 and 350,000 expected. This led, in 1968, to proposals for two possible new sites for integrated steelworks with new port facilities. One was to be on reclaimed land from the River Leven west past Cardross to the Ardmore peninsula. This area had been considered for dock development previously. It would have a pier reaching out into the Clyde of 8,500 ft. Constant dredging would be required. The other site recommended was at Hunterston, where dredging would not be needed even for the largest possible size of vessel.

General Terminus was closed in 1978 (officially December 1979) on the opening of the Hunterston Ore Terminal but much of it remained intact, including the approach railway, until 1987. From about 1980 until 1984 spoil from the shale oil industry in East Lothian was carried by rail to General Terminus.

Little remains of the terminus now, the west of the site now being occupied by housing and east by the Springfield Quay development. The large cutting carrying the approach lines has been infilled and a light industrial estate built.

Before opening, this had been the site of Tod & McGregor's shipyard.

Tags

Sidings

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
03/10/2023



Chronology Dates

  /  /1846General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Act receives Royal assent. Line from General Terminus, a depot on the south bank of the River Clyde, to West Street Junction (Govan and Polloc Railway), Strathbungo Junction (Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway) and Shields Junction No 1 (Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway).
  /  /1846Polloc and Govan Railway
Clyde Terrace (south bank of River Clyde) branch approved. Not built. (General Terminus opened instead.)
  /  /1847General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus confirmed as the River Clyde terminal, rather than other locations promoted in 1846 such as Clyde Terrace.
30/03/1849General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
West Street Junction (Govan and Polloc Railway) to Shields Junction No 1 (Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway) and General Terminus opened. Curve to Strathbungo Junction (Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway) opened.
20/10/1892General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Authorisation allows passenger trains to use Strathbungo Junction to General Terminus.
  /  /1893William Baird & Co
Purchase mines at Santander, North Spain and the Monte de Hierro mineral field in South Spain. This traffic was initially received at General Terminus (Glasgow Harbour), but the harbour commissioners soon had plans for a new facility at Rothesay Dock served by the Rothesay Dock Branch (North British Railway and Caledonian Railway).
  /  /1958Ravenscraig Steel WorksGeneral Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus re-built for importing coal and iron ore as the facilities at Rothesay Dock and the Rothesay Dock Branch (North British Railway and Caledonian Railway) were not sufficient.
  /  /1962Ravenscraig Steel Works General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Coal and Iron ore trains from General Terminus swap from steam to 2 Class 20s.
  /12/1979General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
Last iron ore trains run from the General Terminus quayside. (Following the opening of the Hunterston Ore Terminal.)
10/02/1986General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway
General Terminus to Terminus Junction (excluded) closed.