Railway Civil Engineers' Association

Railway Civil Engineers Association RCEA Visit to Scotland: 18th to 21st September 2009

A disappointingly small group of RCEA Members and Guests ventured northwards to the town of Falkirk, between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Central Scotland in late September. Our first task was to find the hotel, thoughtfully chosen by Phil Evans to be quite close to a station: but which station? Falkirk is indeed fortunate to have two stations, one to the north and one to the south of the town, some mile and a bit apart. Perversely Falkirk High is the southern station on the direct Edinburgh to Glasgow route, while Falkirk Grahamston is the northern one on the Edinburgh to Stirling and Inverness route. Thankfully we were fully briefed and all made it to meet up for Dinner (except one delayed by an incident on the ECML). There being no presentation that evening on the works we were to see the following day Phil had prepared a most comprehensive “Homework pack” for us all to study instead! This consisted of a Railway Network map, a series of large scale Ordnance Survey maps of the area with the new works clearly highlighted, Network Rail’s Summer update on the Airdrie to Bathgate project (known as “A2B”) plus a thicker pack of station facts and GA drawings, and a brochure from Transport Scotland on the re-opening of the Stirling – Alloa – Kincardine line, known as the “SAK” project. On studying the maps it was a surprise to me to see how intensive a railway network once existed in this highly industrialised Central region of Scotland – there seemed to be traces of railway lines from everywhere to everywhere! The A2B project will effectively create a new double track electrified route from Edinburgh Haymarket across to Glasgow Queen Street LL paralleling the existing routes via Falkirk (un-electrified) and Motherwell (electrified – used by NXEC). Parts are already opened, namely the Newbridge – Livingston – Bathgate section to the east, and the Airdrie – Drumgelloch single-line section to the west. All this reminded me that as we travelled out from Edinburgh I had noted that installation of Overhead Electrification equipment (OHLE) was well advanced from Haymarket to just short of Bathgate. Saturday dawned grey and wet – oh dear! – but fortified by a good Scottish breakfast we boarded our Mini- bus for the days tour. It quickly became apparent that our driver had been doing some serious homework on our behalf researching where each railway route crossed the road, with small detours to point out interesting features such as a new lattice girder footbridge that Phil hadn’t spotted. Unfortunately those near the back of the mini-bus missed some of the commentary, but most got the gist.

See http://www.airdriebathgateraillink.co.uk/ As we were neither kitted out trained or vetted for actually stepping onto site our first stop was Bathgate station site compound where we saw that the station trackwork and the stabling sidings were mostly in place. The present temporary station is located on a single line spur following the old route to Slamannam, so will be closed when the new station is opened to the south. A considerable amount of car parking space is being provided here, showing the high expectations for this railhead. We then drove on to the next station Armadale via the extensive staging works for a new road underbridge giving a better road alignment. This station is located in a quite rural location between the towns of Armadale and Whitburn. Here we got out and looked along the route from the road overbridge – it was clear that a lot of earthworks were going to be necessary both to recover the right of way from dereliction and services such as a gas main and to lower the tracks to give necessary clearance for OHLE. The railway route had also become a key part of National Cycle Route 75, Clyde to Forth, so additional works were necessary to re-align this cycle and footpath alongside the new tracks.

©Railway Civil Engineers Association 2009 Page 1 http://www.rcea.info/ Preparatory works were evident showing that most bridges were going to be replaced very soon to give adequate strength and clearance. It was very easy to follow the works taking place alongside the main A89 road as we then drove on to see Caldercruix station – right down the end of a little residential road. I suspect that most passengers will be walking to this station, as the old station site has been closely built up all round with little room for anyone other than disabled to park nearby.

On to Drumgelloch, more a suburb of Airdrie, where a major new station was under construction with a large car park. When this opens the present one platform station will close.

Caldercruix station

During this tour I was struck how many seemingly quite significant roads between towns had been closed to allow bridges to be reconstructed, without much in the way of major signed diversions – the locals just seem to get on with it with much less fuss Old arch underbridge near Drumgelloch station than down south! Overall many of us concluded that a significant start had been made, even for an existing rail route, but there was still a lot to do before opening due in December 2010. After a welcome coffee stop we headed for Stirling for lunch, pausing at Cumbernauld to a se an “old style” modernisation station – well served by buses and taxis – but a little lacking in style! Re-boarding our mini-bus we headed over the River Forth to return to Falkirk along the north shore of the Firth, initially following the route of the SAK re-opening project. This is a largely single-track link for passenger and freight use that links many of the communities along the north shore, seeming much more “rural” in construction than the A2B project. See http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/projects/SAK-railway-project

We then did a “loop” from the north shore to the south shore and back to the north shore in order to travel south over the new Clackmannanshire bridge, an elegant 26-span push-launched deck structure allowing north- south traffic to bypass Kincardine – which used to get very crowded when road traffic was diverted through there from the Forth suspension bridge downstream in high winds. © TransportScotland http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/projects/upper-forth-crossing We returned north over the original 1930’s Kincardine Bridge and its central through truss girder swing span, soon to be refurbished (as it is a listed structure) now the new route is open.

©Railway Civil Engineers Association 2009 Page 2 http://www.rcea.info/ With the weather now definitely improving we continued east along the north shore of the Firth of Forth to North Queensferry, a picturesque little fishing village and ferry terminal - somewhat over-shadowed by 2 massive bridges – the Forth Rail Bridge and Road Bridges.

Queensferry

We then crossed the Firth for the last time to Queensferry for a Tea Stop, which seemed a bit busy…. We soon found out why when we parked on the quay by the Rail Bridge – and were boxed in by coach-loads of Pipers and a local accordion band who began to warm up and tune up(!) before marching through the town to a celebration ceiligh! Quite a way to end the day for us Sassenachs.

Sunday dawned fine and sunny – this was going to be a good day! We spent the morning admiring the new Falkirk Wheel that in 2002 replaced a flight of 11 locks linking the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. See http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/ This is really stylish piece of engineering Falkirk Wheel Falkirk Wheel lifting canal boats in steel troughs 24m between the two levels. The British Waterways Board did excellent business with boat trips from the lower basin up in the lift with its fantastic views through the new canal tunnel to the upper basin. Took quite a while to travel not a great distance, but an experience not to be missed nevertheless.

We had lunch at the Wheel Café watching how the drive mechanism and water seals to the troughs worked….

The afternoon was spent at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society site at Bo’ness, including a trip on the Bo’ness and Kinneil railway, steam-hauled by LNER D49 4-4-0 No.246 “Morayshire”. The trains actually run beyond Kinneil to Birkhill, where passengers are invited to go down the Fireclays mine there. See http://www.srps.org.uk/railway/info.htm If you visit Birkhill station do Birkhill Station look at the amazingly intricate ornate cast-iron canopy supports like interwoven tree branches – these came from Monifieth (near Dundee). The section beyond to Manuel, where there is a connection to the Edinburgh – Glasgow main line, is not yet open to passengers, though a Manuel Low Level station has been built in anticipation. On our return we visited the Museum site – they have a lot of railwayana there, some very well displayed, others in a state resembling a local scrapyard!

After a really good day, enjoyed by Members and Guests alike, we returned to the hotel and a good dinner, saying “thanks” to our ever enthusiastic and knowledgeable mini-bus driver. Many thanks from us all to Phil Evans for all the effort he put into making this a most enjoyable weekend, doing all the research, producing information packs, booking accommodation, tickets and transport, and generally shepherding us all about.