Law Junction

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Law Junction (1880-1965)

Station code: National Rail
Opened on the Caledonian Railway.
Opened on the Wishaw Deviation (Caledonian Railway).
Opened on the Law Colliery Branch (Caledonian Railway).

Description

This was a four platform station which opened with the Wishaw Deviation (Caledonian Railway) of 1880 which met the Caledonian Railway of 1848 here. The station had a more or less east-west alignment. At this station trains from Glasgow were met by trains from the north coming via the deviation and could be joined to continue the journey south.

The station was just east of Garriongill Junction where the Caledonian Railway joined the Wishaw and Coltness Railway on its approach to Glasgow.

Law had originally became a junction with the opening of a short mineral line to Shawfield Colliery, to the south west, in 1867. This replaced an older alignment which travelled at almost 90 degrees to meet the main line to reach a pit at Lawmuir.

The Wishaw Deviation was a double track line which met the existing double track mainline immediately west of the station.

The passenger station, on the west side of Wildman Road, consisted of two island platforms with the main lines running between the islands. There were buildings with canopies on both platforms and a long footbridge approached the platforms from the south side, alongside a station building.

Law Junction signal box was located on the north side of the line at the west end of the station. It opened in 1880.

Law Junction South signal box was on the east side of Wildman Road, sandwiched between the main lines and goods yard.

A large group of sidings were laid out to the east of the station. On the north side of these was a small goods yard with shed and loading bank. Between this and the running lines were several dead end sidings, approached from the east, two extending along the north side of the station often used for carriage storage. To the south of the running lines was an 8 road carriage shed and several sidings, all approached from the west.

The south box was replaced in 1897.

The colliery line was still accommodated after the station opened. It skirted the south side of the station, with exchange sidings at its west end. The colliery had closed before the Second World War.

The station closed in 1965. Law Junction South signal box closed in 1968. Law Junction signal box closed in 1973, in preparation for electrification, and was replaced by the Motherwell Signalling Centre.

With the closure of the station there was some re-alignment and many sidings were lifted. A freight depot was laid out on the site of the carriage sidings, but this has closed. Little remains of the station other than a few station cottages.

Tags

Station junction

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map




Chronology Dates

  /  /1873Wishaw Deviation (Caledonian Railway)
Line authorised from Carfin Junction to Law Junction.
26/04/1880Wishaw Deviation (Caledonian Railway)
Law Junction to Holytown opened to goods.
01/06/1880Wishaw Deviation (Caledonian Railway)
Law Junction to Holytown opened. Stations opened at Wishaw Central and Overtown Waterloo.

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 Carlisle's Railways

Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Caledonian Dunalastairs and Associated Classes (Locomotive Monograph)

Caledonian in LMS Days (Railways in Retrospect)

Caledonian Railway

Caledonian Railway Carriages

Caledonian Railway Livery: The True Line Elegance and Style

Caledonian Railway Livery: The True Line Elegance and Style

Caledonian Railway Wagons & Non-Passenger Coaching Stock

Caledonian Routes 3: Stirling to Crianlarich - DVD - Oakwood Press

Caley to the Coast: Rothesay by Wemyss Bay (Oakwood Library of Railway History)

Callander & Oban Railway Through Time

Callander and Oban Railway (Library of Railway History)

Carlisle To Beattock: including the Dumfries Branch (Scottish Main Lines)

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Lanarkshire's Last Days of Steam

Old Wishaw

Signalling the Caledonian Railway

The Caledonian Railway 'jumbos' the 18in. X 26in. 0-6-0s

The Caledonian, Scotland's Imperial Railway: A History

The Caledonian, Scotland's Imperial Railway: A History

The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)

Through Scotland with the Caledonian Railway

Through Scotland with the Caledonian Railway

Vanished Railways of West Lothian