Location type

Names and dates

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

Description

This was the junction from which the 1828 Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway was extended south in 1834 by the Wishaw and Coltness Railway, leaving the route to Palacecraig on a branch. From the same junction the Rosehall Railway ran south to the Rosehall Colliery.

Also known as Palacecraig Branch Junction.

In 1845 the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway was extended south to Whifflet South Junction on the Wishaw and Coltness Railway, bypassing the congested Coatbridge portion of the M&K and the level crossings in the town (these remained a problem until a deviation opened as late as 1872) and putting the two companies in direct communication rather than going via the M&K. Around this time Whifflat Junction may have been renamed Whifflet North Junction.

A signal box opened in 1904 on the east side of junction (and south of Whifflet [NB] station).

At its height the box controlled a complex series of lines and sidings.

Going northwards and from west to east:

- a goods line to Dundyvan Works, Stobcross Bolt and Nut Works, the Souterhouse and Dundyvan Branch (Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway) and the Langloan Railway - the main line serving Whifflet [NB] station's island platform
- a goods line to Whifflet Goods, Lochrin Iron Works, Coatbridge Tinplate Works, Whifflet Yard and North British Iron Works
Going southwards, west to east

- the Rosehall Railway (which crossed the Glasgow, Garnkirk and Coatbridge Railway on the level)
- line to Whifflet South Junction (Wishaw and Coltness Railway)
- line to Whifflet Central Junction (M and K) - closed about 1989. By reversal this gave access to the Whifflet Foundry and ahead was the Meadow Works.

In 1945 the line south from Whifflet Central Junction was singled.

The junction was renamed Whifflet East Junction at an unknown date, one possibility being 1948, on the creation of British Railways, to avoid two locations having the same name.

In 1968 the line south to Whifflet South Junction was singled. The line north to Sunnyside Junction was singled in 1973 (to allow the line to be slewed for the extra weight of concrete trains to the Gartsherrie Cement Works. The box closed in 1973, replaced by the Motherwell Signalling Centre.

The branch to Meadow Works and the Whifflet Foundry closed around 1989.

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