General view of tracks and freight warehouses

Description General view of tracks and freight warehouses

Date 1890

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number BL 10346/24

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 730400, B 64135

Scope and Content Carriage Sidings, Gourock Pier Railway Station, Kempock Point, Gourock, Inverclyde (now demolished) Gourock Pier Railway Station, considered to be the most advanced railway pier of its time, was designed by the Glasgow architect, James Miller, and built in 1889 as a major railway steamer interchange for the Caledonian Railway Company. The architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, was commissioned to photograph the station and pier in 1890. This photograph shows the site still under construction, with a handcart and sections of track piled up in the foreground. A long line of typical 1890s-style, six-wheeled carriages are drawn up in the sidings in front of the engine sheds. In the background (left) is the clock tower, built overlooking the River Clyde, which acted as a beacon for steamers drawing up at the quayside. The Caledonian Railway Company bought Gourock pier and the surrounding land in 1869 with a view to the future development of a steam packet (boat) station and railway terminal. The company's existing line ran from Glasgow Central Station to Greenock, and the required extension from Greenock to Gourock was a costly one to make. In 1889 the job was completed at a cost of £600,000, an investment that was to prove richly rewarding for the company. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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