Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders

The entry to Queen Street High Level Station for railway traffic is through a tunnel 1040 yards long on an inclined plane of about twice that length with an ascending gradient of 1 in 44 to Cowlairs Station, where a steam-operated winding engine originally existed until 1968 although the machinery was scrapped in 1909. The tunnel, built by Marshall & Co., consisted of three parts, Bell’s Park 272 yards, Asylum 292 yards and Broomhill 476 yards.

These works were constructed in 1840–42 by the Edinburgh & Glasgow under the direction of Miller, at the

end of a line he had engineered almost level. The incline was too steep to be worked by the locomotives of the day and each train had to be assisted by rope haulage and controlled by a special brake wagon when descending. By the end of 1841 the tunnel was white-washed and gas lit and, on Miller’s authorisation, was opened to the public on New Year’s Day 1842 for the benefit of the Paisley Relief Fund and workmen injured on the railway.

The rope haulage system, similar to that on the earlier Liverpool & Manchester, was in the form of an endless

cable operated by a winding engine in a special building at the top of the incline. Trains were connected to the rope as they left Queen Street Station and cast off the connection at the top. This inconvenient method of

working lasted from 1842 to 1908, when banking engines took over.

As a train began to leave the station there was a momentary pause for the rope to be attached. This allowed many a late arriving passenger a few moments more to catch the train!

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.