The Switchback was a railway line in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland, constructed by the Caledonian Railway (CR). Connecting the lines at Rutherglen on the south side of the city with Robroyston on the north side, this route also served a number of industrial sidings and rail yards.
History
South of London Road
In 1858, the CR honed plans for the one-mile Rutherglen–Dalmarnock line, to be called the Dalmarnock branch. Primarily for the transport of coal, the terminus was the Dalmarnock Gas Works, Bridgeton, which had formerly been supplied via a canal from the river. No explicit commitment was made to introduce a passenger service.
The building of the seven-span Dalmarnock Railway Bridge during 1859–1861 across the River Clyde was integral to the branch opening in 1861. The terminus was initially known as Dalmarnock. Illustrating 1867 traffic volumes, consecutive returning coal trains heading southeast towards Hamilton Junction, after leaving the branch, caused an accident that sandwiched a passenger train between them. Catering for growing demand, a coal and goods depot existed at the terminus by 1869, which assumed the name of Bridgeton, the community to its northwest.
During the following years, coal remained the chief commodity carried. Although approved, the CR was tardy in completing an extension to London Road. A road bridge replaced the level crossing at Strathclyde Street (Strathclyde Junction), from where the new line skirted the western edge of the rail yard, while ascending to the stone abutments and arches of Dalmarnock Road–Baltic Street. Construction largely finished by the beginning of 1875, the line did not open to goods until April 1877.
The Rutherglen station was rebuilt further east to better facilitate the introduction of passenger traffic to the branch. Although a coal depot had existed at London Road for months, the passenger station, and the corresponding one at Bridgeton, did not open until April 1879. The wisdom of locating the terminus in a rural area at the extreme eastern boundary of Bridgeton, instead of closer to Glasgow, was questioned. The station stood to the west, and a goods yard, comprising four groups of sidings, opened to the east. The expanding Dalmarnock Iron Works (1873–1986) would be reached by reversing from the station onto sidings to the west. The Bridgeton station was on the north side of Dalmarnock Road, and to its west, a siding connected the gas works until closure in 1956.
According to an 1887 timetable, passenger trains ran London Road–Bridgeton–Rutherglen about every hour from 5:18 am until 10:00 pm on the six-minute journey. It is unclear if any ran as mixed trains. Some excursion trains, passing south of the Clyde, would include these two branch stations.
In 1891, the Strathclyde Street bridge was lengthened by the addition of two spans in preparation for the new underground line branching at Strathclyde Junction. The existing parallel viaduct was underpinned during excavations for the new line's descent. In 1895, when the low level Dalmarnock (Road) station opened on the new Rutherglen–Glasgow Green line that extended northwest of the station, the Rutherglen–London Road passenger service discontinued. The high level Bridgeton station, described for a few years in the early 1900s as a cleansing department station, may have been a location for cleaning passenger trains during off-peak periods. The Parkhead (later Parkhead Stadium) station (1897–1964), immediately north of London Road and east of Celtic Park stadium, was on a new east–west line opened the previous year. Both these routes operated as CR's Glasgow Central Railway. London Road became solely a goods and minerals (coal) depot.
The replacement Dalmarnock Railway Bridge was built during 1893–1897 to carry twin tracks, and was widened in 1923 to carry an additional track. The former bridge continued to provide additional capacity until no longer required.
The Dalmarnock sewage works sidings (c.1902–1960s) facilitated the transportation of grit, sand and other heavy solids. The Dalmarnock power station sidings (1920–1977) handled coal trains. When the plant converted to oil firing, two loaded trains of petrochemicals came each weekday.
The Bridgeton depot closed in 1965, and the London Road rail yard in 1986. Since 1979, the Argyle Line has included the Rutherglen–Dalmarnock route. All other tracks north of Strathclyde Junction have been lifted.