Seven Stations in Greenock - some open, some closed! Why?

[@roddyk05]

I believe the tracks are missing at Lyndoch station because they were nicked! There was a gang of lads with a lorry lifting the rails for scrap at that section which was easily accessible - pretty sure they got caught. That’s the story as it was recounted to me. Enjoyed your video.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment, which gave me a laugh. Maybe the lads wouldn't have got done if they'd put Network Rail stickers on their lorry!

[@fhwolthuis]

Interesting history, Clive. Love these old relics and abandoned platforms etc 😀👍🏻

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks, as always, for your comments Frank.

[@jaksclips]

Enjoyed the movie about my home town and its railway infrastructures. And the commentary too, though I did spot a few errors. If I could add my own history it would be my mother’s experience of rushing to shelter in a tunnel on the Kilmalcolm line to avoid the WW2 German bombs that would shortly demolish the properties on her street and cause many casualties. I appreciate the work you put in to make this video and encourage you to make more.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for the comment, I'm happy to invoke such memories. Perhaps you could let me know the errors as I'm thinking of doing a follow up film

[@adc2987]

There was also a station/halt at Ravenscraig hospital, which itself is now demolished but is between Drumfrochar and Branchton on the Wemyss bay line. No trace remains though, as far as I know.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks very much for drawing that to my attention. Ravenscraig station opened in 1865 and closed in 1944. The Railscot website has a few photos of trains passing the remains of the platform in the 1960s, and also a map extract from an early date showing the location. I will add it to my list of things to re-visit in Greenock.

[@PlanesTrainsEverything]

I noticed the door highlights the other day, and not before time. A great idea.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment Scott. They're better than the black stencil bikes on the front of units, which not all units had!

[@tivvy-xf4kz]

We lived in Paisley and we used to get the train to Greenock Upper from Canal st in Paisley when visiting my Gran.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. Happy memories!

[@gfunkmusic6836]

At 5:35 that was the spur to Lynedoch Street goods yard, now an industrial estate.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for that comment - it makes perfect sense now you've enlightened me! I'm always happy when my films elicit some local knowledge.

[@Scott757300]

Where the two tunnels cross, there is an open ventilation shaft with a large brick structure around the top. You can see it on google maps. You can also see it from the street if you look closely enough. The old line has recently been cleared to allow tunnel and retaining wall maintenance. It would be such an asset to open it to freight trains given the roads into and out of Greenock are a nightmare when all goes wrong, or roadworks appear. Alas I believe the tunnels are too small to fit modern containers. You'd think with the environmental drive it must be something that has been considered. I think the route beyond the viauduct could be difficult to reinstate due to removal of atleast one bridge and development, but I'm sure alternative connection points could be examined. The old signal where the container terminal line joined the Wemyss Bay line is still in place, and you can see it from passing trains. I used to always try and spot it when I was a kid. Greenock has so much abandoned railway infrastructure, from the Princes Pier line, the area around Cappielow where there was a line down to the docks and the bridges and x2 tunnels from when the Wemyss Bay line was double tracked before the electrication.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your information, which I enjoyed reading. I like that some of my films elicit local knowledge. I will look for the tunnel ventilation next time I'm in Greenock. There's probably scope for me doing another film some time!

[@orraman5427]

I can remember travelling to Gourock by steam train as a boy. You only forgot to close the window before entering a tunnel once.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I have similar childhood memories of my grandmother jumping up to shut the window as we approached Ipswich tunnel

[@georgerutherford24]

No visit to Cartsdyke for Greenock Morton😢

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I did consider it, as I have made films about Auchinleck station + the Talbot, and New Cumnock + Glenafton Athletic, but I'm not convinced that mixing football with railways always works. Cappielow is a good example of an old-fashioned ground that's seen better days.

[@aldothenoo]

Always remember the old sign at cartsdyke saying " alight here for cappielow park "..sadly long since gone.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

@@aldothenoo Thanks for your comment - I wonder if any photos of it exist anywhere?

[@nrobin9415]

In fact there are nine stations in Greenock - Bogston, Cartsdyke, Greenock central, Greenock West, Fort Matilda all on the Gourock line plus Whinhill, Drumfrochar, Branchton and IBM on the Wemyss Bay line. IBM is currently closed but may reopen if the plans for hundreds of new houses on the former IBM factory site come to pass.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I have it in my plan to return to Greenock and fill in some of the gaps drawn to my attention in comments here. The IBM site is interesting.

[@fhwolthuis]

I hope you can venture into that tunnel one day!

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

I may do - I'd need a big torch though. I've been wondering if Clydeport were examining the line for possible re-opening. A lot of the vegetation had been cut back.

[@caitgems1]

The double darkies we call them.

[@labos7250]

Smart guy stayed away from the qb

[@NS-qs3pe]

Fort Matilda,Greenock West,Central,Cartsdyke,Bogston,Branchton,Princess Pier and other closed stations.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment.

[@martinreed9565]

I understand the old line was use by br for fright

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I think that's right, but I'm not sure when.

[@mickiwest2536]

It’s that tunnel at Greenock cent not the longest in Scotland

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. The Newton Street tunnel at 1,929 metres, is the longest main line tunnel in Scotland - a definition which obviouly excludes suburban lines in the Glasgow area. I can't find a length for the tunnel at the west end of Greenock Central station, but looking at the Ordnance Survey map it is considerably shorter than Newton Street tunnel. The website RealTime Trains gives the distance between Greenock Central and Greenock West stations as 52 chains which is 1,046 metres.

[@Marcsworld2012]

7:48 if the station was built in ‘98 then how did the accident take place in ‘94

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

The dates are correct. The station was added to an existing railway line. Drumfrochar is the name of the locality where the accident happened.

[@ThomasMuirAudionaut]

Whinhill isn't Greenock mate. it's Whilhill, a village nearby, while Drumfrochar is added at a new build part of the village of Overtown. Greenock stops at the GSWR line and cornhaddock road at that point. - also ''upper greenock'' is only named that because they ran out of ideas for names and didn't like berryyards, the name of the farm hamlet at the end of the road of the same name. - conurbation isn't subsumation. Also LOL nope. the family is named for the hill, for the area, The Lyles came from there.. think about it.. people are named for jobs or the place they're from - Scotland's geographic names are a thousand years old... as are half of your own... not to mention the sugar company name was TATE AND Lyle, so where's the tate hill? .. yeah.. it'll be wherever mr Tate's kin originated. And you didn''t need to include Cartsdyke and Bogston, they're towns in their own right and if Bogston _is_ a part of a larger town, it'd part of Port Glasgow because there's a large semi-green belt area between it and Cartsdyke.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I've had a few comments about what is Greenock and what isn't Greenock, confused a bit by boundaries changing over the years. Most online sources credit the naming of Lyle Hill as being after the sugar guy Provost Abram Lyle. kids.kiddle.co/Lyle_Hill is one of many examples.

[@ThomasMuirAudionaut]

@@Clivestravelandtrains the boundaries i'm talking about are refined (lol) from local folks boundaries, which are pretty much geo-physically evident on the whole due the them being basically traditional memories of old maps in a way. The sources you found are probably fairly recent ones if they don't have lyle hill recorded as at least medieval, since there's been a lyle moss further south and lyle farm (now gone under new builds at Branchton) for that long... i'd send a link to a map resource ordinarily, 'cause i'm certain you'll find it on 17th century maps... but the site I use recently updated and it's a damned laggy and disorganised AI managed shambles now... But i'm certain you'll find at least lyle moss on maps before the industrial revolution.. maybe the hill was named later... but 'Lyle' is a feature of the area.

[@Ayrshore]

No mention of IBM?

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I didn't forget IBM, I made a conscious decision to only cover the stations in the town of Greenock itself. IBM station might be in Gourock but I'm not really sure where the boundaries are. The road signs indicate that when you drive into Gourock you're also driving out of Greenock. However, I am planning to do another film about Greenock this year taking into account various comments people made on this one. So watch this space!

[@Ayrshore]

@@Clivestravelandtrains both IBM and Branchton are most definitely in Greenock, not Gourock. Looking forward to the next outing!

[@justNotSure]

You forgot about the IBM station

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment. I didn't forget IBM, I made a conscious decision to only cover the stations in the town of Greenock itself. IBM station might be in Gourock but I'm not really sure where the boundaries are. The road signs indicate that when you drive into Gourock you're also driving out of Greenock. However, I am planning to do another film about Greenock this year taking into account various comments people made on this one. So watch this space!

[@justNotSure]

@Clivestravelandtrains OK thanks. Forgot to say, great video.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

@@justNotSure Thanks. You wouldn't believe the editing work that went into it!

[@justjim3168]

One of the most depressing, soul destroying towns in Scotland. Quite why anyone would wish to visit it beyond me. All stations should be closed, not just some.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your comment.

[@MervynLang-w5w]

Madre mia! Infrmative report but focussed unameably. to me Central Staiom and West bags of horror., Gorock tterminus is now a glass cage. Ships vanishedl Where n earth in Grinaig would you eat? Where is Bogston land Cartsdyke, mi domando? There I lerness latin gaeic french german, spanish and cataln, meaninf i knqw the toon very well.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Mol be senyor. Gracies pel eu missatge. Gorock aint in Grinaig big man. Una otra filma sigue este uno. Ich habe ein feltbloomer para ti.

[@alistairallen829]

To much darting about all over the place, from Fort Matilda to Princess Pier, you didn't even get to Gourock, the longest tunnel in Scotland "HOW LONG" Please also a windshield for your microphone would help, sporadic video more continuity is required and more info on the stations rather than bridge numbers

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

Thanks for your constructive comments. Gourock is a separate town with its own identity. There are boundary signs between the two towns in the vicinity of Battery Park. Newton Street tunnel is 1,929 metres long. Wind is a common problem in the West of Scotland, I find a windshield makes little difference. It's part of "being there", like the seagulls. Once again, thanks for your constructive comments.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

@@Punkz83 Thanks for your comment - it will help me focus on how I respond to criticism without appearing arrogant.I can take criticism and have sometimes modified my approach to filming based on comments people have made. My Greenock film was quite a challenge, and after the event, you always think - "I could have done that better" or similar.