TheGeneral Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway was authorised on 3 July 1846 and it opened, in part, in December 1848.[1]
Its main function was intended to be the transportation ofcoal from collieries andLanarkshire andAyrshire, other railways, to a coal depot on the south bank of theRiver Clyde.[2]
In 1954, as part of their development of theirRavenscraig steelworks nearMotherwell,Colvilles Ltd andBritish Railways began installing new wharfage and facilities at General Terminus Quay.[3] This was to allow the simultaneously unloading of two large ships carrying bulkiron ore.[3] The ships were designed to hold 12,000tons (12,200tonnes) of iron ore.[4]
Iron ore was to be transported, in bulk, by railway, from the River Clyde to theLanarkshire steel works at,Motherwell. In March 1949, forward plans by Colvilles suggested that the General Terminus Quay ore handling facility would be handling two million tons of basic iron ore per year. 1,020,000 tons per year for theClyde Iron Works and 980,000 tons forRavenscraig steelworks.[5] In 1954, Scotland imported 1,436,000tons (1,460,000tonnes) of iron ore, mainly fromSweden, North Africa, andNewfoundland.[3]
The opening of the deep waterHunterston Ore Terminal, nearWest Kilbride, in the early 1970s led to The General Terminus Quay ceasing to handle this traffic and the ore handling equipment was demolished in the early 1980s.
A large area of the river frontage, including part of Windmillcroft Quay, Springfield Quay, General Terminus Quay, Mavisbank Quay and Princes Dock, was cleared in the early 1980s. Mavisbank Quay and the mostly infilled Princes Dock area was used to host the 1988Glasgow Garden Festival. The former Glasgow Garden Festival site was relatively quickly redeveloped after the end of the six month festival; however the General Terminus Quay site was left vacant. It has since been used for housing and nearly all traces of the railway line have been removed between the River Clyde and its passage under theGlasgow and Paisley Joint Railway.
Cunnison, J. and Gilfillan, J.B.S., (1958).The City of Glasgow (The ThirdStatistical Account of Scotland, Volume V). Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989).Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd.ISBN978-1-85260-086-0.OCLC22311137.
Little, M., (1979).Greater Glasgow's Railway Network. In:Scottish Transport,33, Scottish Tramway Museum Society. ISSN 0048-9808.
Payne, Peter L. (1979).Colvilles and the Scottish Steel Industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-828278-8.
Smith, W.A.C (compiler). andThomas, John (Introduction), (not dated, but pre-1982).Rails Around GLASGOW. Scottish Steam Railtours Group (printed in Paisley).
