Between 1836 and 1846 the number of blast furnaces in and around Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, increased from 10 to 60, and the existing railways proved inadequate. In 1846, several Monkland ironmasters, including J B Neilson, John Wilson of Dundyvan, William Dixon and Colin Dunlop, promoted a new direct railway into Glasgow. It was to be 11 miles long and to run via Shettleston to a terminus in the heart of Glasgow. The majority of the shareholders were from the Monklands area around Coatbridge and Airdrie in North Lanarkshire.
The Glasgow, Airdrie & Monklands Railway Act of 1846 was unusual among railway acts passed at this time as it depended on getting access to a central goods station in Glasgow yet the tightly packed streets of the city centre offered little scope to the builders.
However, the Monkland promoters had heard that the University of Glasgow in the High Street were contemplating moving to a new site in the west of the city and High Street was an excellent place for a station. The Midlands Junction undertook to purchase land in the west end of Glasgow on which to build a new University and this was written into the Act. When the University was built, they would move the old university to the new and the railway would have the old site. However, problems with approving the plans for the new University with Parliament lead the Monklanders to abandon their plans leading to the University taking them to court for £12,000 for breach of contract. The land in the west end was sold by the company to Glasgow Corporation and now forms part of Kelvingrove Park.
Source: David Thomas,A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland(Newton Abbot, 1971)
From the guide to the Records of the Glasgow, Airdrie & Monklands Railway, Scotland, 1846-1847, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
