Paisley & Barrhead District Railway

The story of a railway built to the highest engineering standards, comprising two lines, one of double track and the other single, with seven passenger stations, none of which was ever opened. Consequently, although it managed to eke out a sixty-year existence as a goods line it never came close to returning a profit. Although having its origins in schemes dating back to the 'Railway Mania' of the 1840s, it was not until 1897 that the Paisley & Barrhead District Railway received Parliamentary approval, with opening throughout set for 1901. Bedevilled then by slow progress in the building work, with the weather, the death of the P&BDR's engineer and shortages of funds, it was still far from complete when the Caledonian Railway took over the troubled company in 1902 which finally opened to goods traffic in the summer of 1905. However, by this date, the imminent opening of the Paisley District Tramways Company's line between Paisley and Barrhead resulted in the railway never being opened to passengers