BALLOCHNEY RAILWAY.
George IV. Cap. 48, Royal Assent 5th Hay, 1826.
This railway commences from the Kipps, or Kippbyres Colliery Branch of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, one mile and a half west of the town of Airdrie, in Lanarkshire, and proceeding by Lea-end Colliery to the north of Airdrie, it passes by Stanrig to the march or division between east and west Arbuckle, in the parish of New Monkland, where the main line terminates. The whole length of the main line is four miles, with a rise, from the Kirkintilloch Railroad, of 352 feet, to Arbuckle. At one mile and three quarters from the west end of the railway there is a branch to Brownside and Blackrig Coal Pits, near the village of Clerkston, and called the Clerkston Branch, of one mile and a quarter in length. Also from the main line another branch called the Whiterig Branch, the length of which is three quarters of a mile. At a distance of nearly a mile from Kippbyres there is a self-acting inclined plane of more than three quarters of a mile in length, and upon the remaining part of this railway the inclinations are such that locomotive machines may be employed very advantageously. The total length of the main line and branches is a little more than six miles. The original estimate was made by Mr. Thomas Grainger, civil engineer, in 1826, and amounted to £18,431, 19s.
The act for making this railway and branches is entitled, 'An Act for making a Railway from Arbuckle and BaUochney, in the parish, of New Monkland, in the county of Lanark, to or near the termination of the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, at Kipps, or Kippbyres, also in the said parish of New Monkland and county of Lanark.' The subscribers to this railway, at the time the act was obtained, consisted of fourteen persons, and were incorporated under the name and style of "The Ballochney Railway Company." They were empowered to raise by subscription £18,425, to be divided into seven hundred and thirty-seven shares of £25 each.
By section 32, the company were, in addition to the sum of
