Arkleston Junction
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Arkleston Junction is a railway junction east of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The junction is one mile from Paisley Gilmour Street railway station and is heavily used by both passenger and freight traffic.
Post 1967-electrification
Situated on both the Ayrshire Coast and Inverclyde lines, previously – since the electrification of the Gourock line in 1967, and the removal of the centre (fast lines) from Shields Junction – Arkleston Junction merged the four passenger tracks (Up & Down Fast; and Up & Down Slow) and the Up and Down Goods Loops running out of Paisley Gilmour Street into the two tracks running on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway line into Glasgow Central station.
There was also a locomotive siding at the junction. The locomotive siding was used by electric locomotives waiting to take over car trains from Elderslie having been hauled by diesel locomotives for the first short section of their journey. This siding was close to the former signal box which was removed during the 1960s electrification project.
Another departmental siding, together with the former Paisley signalling centre, occupies part of the site of the former Paisley Greenlaw Goods station; which also rejoined the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway at Wallneuk Junction.
The Paisley and Renfrew Railway line to Renfrew, which closed to passengers in June 1967, was retained to serve the former Babcock & Wilcox plant (now Mitsui Babcock) until January 1981, and was connected to the Up Goods Loop.
Ayrline Electrification - 1986
As part of the Ayrshire Electrification by British Rail in the early 1980s, the connection to the line to Renfrew was removed (the line had previously become derelict and mostly removed), the locomotive siding and the Slow lines were taken out of use between Wallneuk Junction and Arkleston Junction. The practical application of this was the former Up Goods Loop and Up Slow line were removed and the Down Slow Line became the Up Goods Loop.
Present use
Arkleston Junction was extensively remodelled and resignalled in 2011–2012 as part of the Paisley Corridor Improvements Project, which included the installation of a bi-directional third track between Shields and Arkleston Junctions, and restoration of the four-track provision between Arkleston Junction and Paisley Gilmour Street station.[1] These improvements had originally been planned as enabling works for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, but were carried forward regardless when the airport branch itself was cancelled in 2009.[2]
References
- Railway Clearing House. Pre-grouping Railway Junction Diagrams, 1914. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1256-3. Search this book on
. - Casserley, H.C. (1968). Britain's Joint Lines. London: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-0024-7 Search this book on ..
Coordinates: 55°51′04″N 4°24′38″W / 55.8510°N 4.4106°W
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- ↑ "Paisley Corridor Improvement Project". Railway Technology. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ↑ "Ministers scrap airport rail plan". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
