General view of tracks by riverside looking away from station

Description General view of tracks by riverside looking away from station

Date 1890

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

Catalogue Number BL 10346/23

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 730399, B 64134

Scope and Content Railway Tracks, 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. The standard gauge railway tracks were constructed on land between the town and the shore, and included some of the building contractors' tracks (far left) which were built to transport heavy construction materials. When this photograph was taken, the large open area (centre left) was being developed as the site of the railway turntable used to the turn the railway engines around at the end of their journey. In 1855 Gourock was described as 'a long line of white houses which stretch round the margin of the bay', and was known for its bracing sea-bathing and other marine activities. The arrival of the Caledonian Railway Company in 1889 provided a direct railway link with Glasgow, and hence dramatically changed the character of the town by opening it up as a busy Clydeside railway terminus, steamer port and holiday centre. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Glass

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