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This station was located just to the south of the present Hamilton platforms of Motherwell station.

The 1856 Lesmahagow Railway (Coalburn branch) did not originally carry a passenger service and there was no need for a combined Lesmahagow and main line station. The station at Motherwell Junction sufficed being on the junction of the main lines to Glasgow (1849) and the original route of the line north to Coatbridge (1841). Much of the coal traffic from the Lesmahagow line was for Coatbridge which resulted in a new link being built in 1857, the Motherwell Deviation Line (Caledonian Railway). This opening and the commencement of a passenger service on the Lesmahagow line (an internal service from Lesmahagow [1st] to Ferniegair [1st] was ultimately to lead to today's Motherwell station.

In 1871 the Lesmahagow passenger service was able to cross the Camp Viaduct over the River Clyde to Motherwell and Motherwell Bridge station opened at Clyde Street (the street which ran west out of Motherwell and crossed the Clyde to Hamilton and was renamed Hamilton Road). The station was built just to the south of the small junction yard on the Lesmahagow line's approach to Lesmahagow Junction.

From 1876 the station also served the new extension to Hamilton Central from the Lesmahagow line.

In 1885 both Motherwell Bridge and Motherwell Junction closed and were replaced with the present Motherwell station. Construction involved the removal of Muir Street which formerly crossed the main line. The station was built to the south of the 'V' of Lesmahagow Junction with platforms on the main line and a new loop on the east side of the junction yard of the Lesmahagow line with platforms.

The site of Motherwell Bridge became the southern exit for the new station, controlled by Hamilton Road Signal Box.

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