1. History

2. Services

3. Gallery

4. References

5. External links

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Gourock railway station is a terminus of the Inverclyde Line, located at Gourock pierhead, Scotland, and serving the town as well as the ferry services it was originally built for.

History

The Caledonian Railway found that their service to Greenock Central station, which was an inconvenient walk away from the quay, was losing Clyde steamer trade to the new Glasgow and South Western Railway terminal at Prince's Pier in Greenock. The Caledonian Railway extended their line through a new tunnel to the small fishing village of Gourock, with the railway running on the seaward side of Shore Street to the terminal which opened on 1 June 1889^[2] and subsequently based the headquarters of their steamer fleet there. The station was designed by the architect James Miller and engineer-in-chief, George Graham.^[3] The initial services laid on in 1889 were from Glasgow to Gourock with 26 trains daily, with one additional one on Saturdays. The fastest journey time was 40 minutes and each train could carry 604 passengers, 224 of them in 1st class accommodation, the rest in 3rd class.^[2]

Inspector Halliday from the western district of the Caledonian Railway was appointed stationmaster, and Mr Anderson, assistant stationmaster at Cathcart Street Station, Greenock, was appointed as assistant stationmaster at Gourock.^[4]

The station was built to take large numbers of passengers boarding the steamers. Originally the curving station had 17 canopy bays each side over three railway lines, three bays full width then the westmost 19 bays covered one line which continued on, and a central concourse with adjacent offices and stores etc. fronting the pier.

On 16 June 1935 a holiday train overran the platform and collided with the buffers. Three people were hospitalised.^[5]

On 12 December 1957 a fire broke out in the station building. The refreshment room and waiting rooms were badly damaged.^[6]

The line from Glasgow was electrified as part of the Inverclyde Line electrification scheme by British Rail. The 25 kV A.C system was used with electric operation commencing in September 1967.

In the 1980s the westernmost end of the station was cut back by 18 bays, and in the 1990s the adjacent timber quay was demolished. More recently the remaining glazed canopies over the platforms have been taken down, leaving only the cast iron supporting structure and the slate roofs and glazed canopies over a section incorporating a ticket office and a waiting room. The adjacent Bay Hotel was also demolished in the 1990s with its site being grassed over and in 2006 a portable ticket office was put in place at the end wall which had been erected when the station was cut back and the old ticket office was closed.

Approval was given in 1999 for plans initiated by Inverclyde Council, Caledonian MacBrayne and Railtrack, which involved shortening the railway tracks and constructing a new station adjacent to Caledonian MacBrayne's headquarters. This formed part of a major development scheme, with the space formerly occupied by the station together with the grassed area which had been the site of the Bay Hotel providing space for two major supermarkets and housing. Alexander George was appointed preferred developer, but Network Rail was slow to come to an agreement on relocating the station. The work involved in shortening the tracks would have involved considerable expense and meant closing the station for 18 months. The delay left the station looking rather neglected. Then, near the end of September 2006, new plans were announced following intervention by the transport minister Tavish Scott. A considerable saving is to be made by not moving the station so far, so that the work involved is reduced and it will only have to be closed for four or five weeks. Only one supermarket is now proposed, with 580 houses being constructed in blocks facing out onto the Clyde.^[7]

In the interim, the station was renovated at a predicted cost of £630,000 to provide a new entrance, glass roof and toilets, and improved waiting facilities. David Simpson, route director for Network Rail in Scotland, advised that they needed to carry out essential work to make the station more comfortable for the 400,000 passengers using it every year, while continuing to "explore the longer-term options for the station with our industry partners".^[8]

A new station building was designed by IDP Architects^[9] and by the end of 2010 it was in use, and work on demolishing the existing canopies and providing new shelters on platforms proceeded through 2011. The new station building was officially opened on 1 August 2012 by Alex Neil MSP, with all works having cost £8m.^[10]

As part of a new one way system completed in 2016, the station approach has been reorganised, with new car parking and a promenade along past Kempock Point.

The station is fully staffed throughout the hours of service, seven days per week. There are three active platforms in use.^[11]

Services

There is a regular service (4 trains per hour) to and from {{rws|Glasgow Central}} via {{rws|Paisley Gilmour Street}} on weekdays & Saturdays. Of these, two operate as limited stop expresses beyond {{rws|Greenock Central}}, whilst the other pair stop at all intermediate stations. In the evening (after 18:30), 2tph operate (one semi-fast & one stopper) whilst on Sundays there is an hourly service calling at all intermediate stations.^[12]

The terminal is now the headquarters of Caledonian MacBrayne who used to run a car ferry to Dunoon from the pier, a service which is now provided by Argyll Ferries on a passenger only basis, and it also serves Clyde Marine passenger ferries to Kilcreggan and Helensburgh.

Gallery

References

External links

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_NXiPpWvhA Video footage of the railway station]

• Henri Delaborde (painter)
• Henri de La Croix de Castries
• Henri de la Grange d'Arquien
• Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne
• Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Duc de Bouillon
• Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne
• Henri Delaunay
• Henri Delmotte
• Henri Deloge
• Henri de Marsiac
• Henri de Massue
• Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway
• Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny Et Raineval Galway
• Henri de Nogaret de La Valette, duc de Candale
• Henri Dentz
• Henri Des
• Henri de Saint-simon
• Henri de Saint Simon
• Henri Deslandres
• Henri Desmarets
• Henri de Sourdis
• Henri de Sponde
• Henri de Suse
• Henri de Suze
• Henri de Talleyrand-Périgord, comte de Chalais