The Dalry and North Johnstone Line (also known as the Lochwinnoch Loop Line or Kilbarchan Loop Line) was a branch of the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire, Scotland, connecting the stations in Elderslie and Dalry via a route running parallel to the existing line built by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway. This provided additional line capacity for Ayrshire Coast and Kilmarnock services. The loop line was used for passenger services until the mid-1960s, when it was closed by the Beeching Axe. The majority of the line's trackbed has since been absorbed into the Sustrans National Cycle Network.
History
The main line to Ayr
The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) had opened its main line between Glasgow and Ayr in 1839 - 1840. From Paisley the route ran through Johnstone, Dalry and Irvine. Between Glasgow and Paisley, the route was the Glasgow and Paisley Joint Line, operated jointly with the competing Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway. After amalgamations, the Ayr line was part of the system of the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) and the Greenock line formed part of the Caledonian Railway, a bitter rival of the G&SWR. As well as the traffic for Ayr, the G&SWR ran trains to Carlisle over the route as far as Dalry, then diverging to Kilmarnock.
The Paisley Canal line
Over the following decades the route became increasingly busy, as mineral traffic in particular grew in volume, competing for line capacity with express and local passenger trains and ordinary goods trains. On the Joint Line, the traffic of two routes was carried, and the G&SWR decided to construct a line to by-pass the Joint Line. This became the Paisley Canal Line, which opened in 1885. Running from a junction at the south-western margin of Glasgow, the Canal Line rejoined the Ayr main line west of Paisley, at Elderslie. This gave the G&SWR an independent route from its Glasgow passenger terminal, St Enoch station, and its principal goods depot there, at College. However the route followed the course of the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal, now filled in, and the multiple curves on the route prevented high speed running.
Johnstone North
The Ayr main line had always had a station at Johnstone, and the terminal basin of the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal was nearby. However industrial activity developed more intensively in the area north and east of the town. This was due in part to the availability of water power from the Black Cart Water, which ran round the north of the town, with extensive mill leats constructed serving textile mills by 1857. In addition, ironstone and coal deposits were being worked, with at least two tramways serving them by the same date.
The G&SWR responded to this by opening the first Linwood branch, from Linwood Junction to Linclive and Candren Ironstone pits, both immediately east of Linwood village. This line too was in existence by 1857.
In 1864 the Bridge of Weir Railway was opened from Johnstone station to Bridge of Weir. Nominally independent at first, it was sponsored and worked by the G&SWR, and later taken over by them and extended to Greenock. This line gave a closer connection to the Linwood pits, to Johnstone Gas Works, and to ironworks and foundries that were established north of the town.
In 1895 the G&SWR built a branch line to a new station in Johnstone: Johnstone North. The line left the Greenock line at Cart Junction and ran west to Johnstone North station, located immediately north of Johnstone Bridge (over the Cart). This connected much of the industry, especially the expanding textile works and mineral extraction sites. The station was a terminus, and some of the trains on the Paisley Canal line ran to the stations. The line opened on 1 August 1896.
At Cart Junction further short industrial lines served local factories.
Through to Dalry
The congestion problem on the main line continued to worsen. Although the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway had opened in 1871, allowing traffic from Glasgow to Carlisle to be diverted away from the Dalry line, the heavy mineral traffic arising directly on the route continued to cause serious line capacity problems, and the GS&WR decided to build a new line from Johnstone North to Dalry, where the line divided for Ayr and Kilmarnock respectively.