STEAM DAYS In Colour 199: The Gourock and Wemyss Bay lines

摘要

Served by suburban trains from Glasgow (Central), most of the Gourock branch came into being as the Glasgow, Paisley & Greenock Railway in 1841, while the 10-mile long neighbouring route to Wemyss Bay followed as the Greenock & Wemyss Bay Railway of 1865, and the Caledonian Railway extended beyond Greenock to Gourock in June 1889, primarily for River Clyde steamer traffic. With this in mind, both termini featured berthing facilities for Caledonian Steam Packet Co vessels, with the CR-built 1903 station at Wemyss Bay regarded as 'must see' architecture in 2021 having been beautifully restored. The trains today are electric-multiple-units on Inverclyde services, but we hark back to pre-electrification days to enjoy the widespread pre-1967 use of'4MT 2-6-4Ts on both lines.LMS Derby-built Fairburn '4MT' 2-6-4T No 42245 gets away from Gourock with the I pm service to Glasgow (Central) on Thursday, 31 August 1961 - it will make 11 intermediate stops on its 64 minute journey. The quayside is vacant but this was high season and the Clyde steamers are away plying their trade between here and Dunoon and Rothesay, west and south-west respectively, the latter on Bute, or on much longer outings to the north of the Clyde, such as Inveraray. The railway supplied fuel to the Caledonian Steam Packet Co Ltd and the Esso tank wagons scattered around the sidings are no doubt a mix of full and discharged wagons, which is likely to explain their positioning. No 42245 was a recent transfer to Greenock (Ladyburn) shed when photographed, and it will pass its home shed on the right in about four miles, shortly before reaching Wemyss Bay Junction and Port Glasgow. Roy Crombie/SRPS Collection.