Location type

Station

Name and dates

Morningside [1st] (1844-1848)

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

Opened on the Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway.
Opened on the Wishaw and Coltness Railway.

Description

The Wishaw and Coltness Railway reached Morningside around 1844 from Carluke [1st] (reached 1842) - a short distance of around 2/3 of a mile. The extension was probably driven to reach the under construction Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway rather than a desire to reach Morningside itself. It did service the Chapel Colliery in passing.

Put mildly, passenger services are unclear with contrary and dubious evidence.

The line was extended on by the Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway in 1844. Both companies were associated with coal mining and the iron industry with passengers a secondary consideration.

Passenger services probably cease with the opening of the Caledonian Railway in 1848 and restart from the east in 1850 with the extension of the Wilsontown line to Bathgate [1st]. Services to the west restart around 1851. These then cease to the east in 1852 and west in 1853.

Absorption of the west line by the Caledonian Railway and east line by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was divisive and probably stopped any co-operative through services. Certainly the E&G had no interest in a competing Edinburgh-Glasgow route. The Caledonian could have made good use of the Wilsontown line, but it became part of the E&G in 1849.

As to the station, with early services being horse drawn there were probably virtually no facilities. There is speculation that the original station was left on a short branch by the extension east, (trains from the east needing to reverse for access). More likely the coach simply halted somewhere in the area, perhaps even the east side of the bridge, closer to the village. Clearing house maps show the boundary between the lines on the east side ('Cal. Sta.' to west and 'Junc. & N.B. Sta.' to east).

By 1860 the Ordnance Survey show two goods stations on either side of the Morningside Road. To the west really just a single siding and connections to a coal pit and the Allanton Brick and Tile Works and to the east the label 'Station' just over the bridge, a crane, a loop and further east a two road shed and several sidings, approached from the east.

The 1860 Ordnance Survey Name Book describes the line during this period

A branch of the Caledonian Railway for mineral and goods traffic extending from Morningside Station to Garriongill Junction.

For the station it has

This name applies to a small office adjoining the Wilsontown and Morningside Railway wholly for mineral traffic.

Interesting that no CR station is mentioned.

New passenger stations were to open - certainly their architecture (such as it is) is appropriate to the 1860s.

Morningside [NBR] opened on the east side of the bridge in 1864. Morningside [CR] opened on the west side in 1867. A single line connected them, a line which served neither platform.

Tags

Station terminus

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map

Nearby stations Morningside [NBR] Morningside [CR] Stirling Road Newmains Cambusnethan Law Junction Davies Dykes Overtown [2nd] Overtown [1st] Wishaw Hartwood Cleland [1st] Wishaw South Cleland Carluke	Allanton Iron Foundry Coal Pit Morningside Junction Coltness Branch Junction Allanton Brick and Tile Works Watsonhead Loading Pad Colliery Morningside Shed Coal Pit Chapel Colliery Coal Pit Brick and tile works Coal Pit Coal Pit Coal Pit
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.