Gourock to Port Glasgow by Train

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Gourock Station

The best thing that can be said about Gourock Station is that it was once a very grand place. Sadly, the same cannot be said today due to years of neglect while the owners and other 'stakeholders' continue to disagree about how best to provide Gourock with the "integrated Transport Hub" that it desperately needs.

What little remains of the original station currently stands in a no-mans-land brownfield site where once a hotel and other railway and ferry related buildings stood. Frankly, it is an embarrassing gateway for the town of Gourock and District of Inverclyde.

Gourock Station and pier was designed by famous Scottish railway architect James Miller when the Caledonian Railway Company extended the line from Greenock to Gourock in 1889. An expensive venture which involved blasting three tunnels through solid rock (including the longest railway tunnel in Scotland) in the west end of Greenock. All this was done to combat the nearby Glasgow & South Western Railway company who had a more convenient steamboat connection a mile down river from Greenock Central (then known as Cathcart Street) at Princes Pier (also by Miller) which was served from Glasgow St Enoch Station, via the inland Kilmacolm route.

Gourock Pier

There is virtually nothing left of the wooden pier which wrapped around the seaward side of the station (to the right in the second photo below). The area is now cordoned off from the public and is only visible from the sea.

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Fort Matilda Station

A commuter station in the west end of Greenock, at the west end of the Newton Street tunnel. If memory serves me correctly, the name of the station was once written on the road bridge beside the station which is shown below. Another Miller designed building.

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Greenock West Station

The booking office is a fairly grand red sandstone building at street level, with the platforms below in a red sandstone lined cutting. There is a constant chill and dampness about the place which is almost always in shadow.

The double track line from Fort Matilda Station runs under the west end of Greenock in Scotland's longest railway tunnel at 1 mile and 351 yards in length.

There were once extensive sidings to the north of the station which served the Westburn sugar refinery. The site is now occupied by a DIY warehouse and supermarket. Two short tunnels lead to Greenock Central Station.

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Greenock Central Station

This was the original terminus of the line and passengers had to walk the short distance to Customhouse Quay to catch the steamboats. The line was eventually extended to Gourock in 1889.

A once very grand structure, it has been whittled down over the years, but the impressive castellated walls remain, as does the old bay platform and siding. The line crosses Dellingburn Street just east of the station.

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Cartsdyke Station

Cartsdyke serves the east end of the town and was used by dock and shipyard workers in the heyday of shipbuilding on the Clyde. The arch shown below is to the west of the station. It is also the nearest station to Greenock Morton FC's Cappielow Park which is slightly to the east.

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Old Coal Yard

There was a large coal yard at Sinclair Street and a line down to the James Watt Dock between Cartsdyke and Bogston stations. The line has been disused for many years, but some tracks are still in place as is the bridge over the A8 road and a group of parallel bridges at Ladyburn.

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Bogston Station

This station is crammed between the A8 dual carriageway and the Wemyss Bay line, to which there is no connection.

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The next station is Port Glasgow. Transfer Here. or go Back to Gourock station

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