Beattock Summit

Beattock Summit
300px Sign marking the summit, as seen from the West Coast Main Line
Location
Place	Scotland
Area	South Lanarkshire
Coordinates
Grid reference	NS994152
Operations
Original company	Caledonian Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2
History
3 January 1900	Station opens
After 1926	Station close
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
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File:Beattock Summit 2060028 f41c4722.jpg

Nearing Beattock Summit from the north in 1957

File:Beattock Summit 2 geograph-2192109.jpg

The Royal Scot approaches Beattock Summit in 1957

Beattock Summit is a high point of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) railway and of the A74(M) motorway as they cross from Dumfries and Galloway to South Lanarkshire in south west Scotland.

Railway history

The highest point on the WCML north of the border (built by the Caledonian Railway and opened on 15 February 1848), it is located 52 miles (83 km) south of Glasgow Central and 349 miles (558 km) north of London Euston stations. The height of the summit is 1,033 feet (315 m) above sea level. The signboard by the rail track records the elevation as 1,016 feet.

The summit was the location of a private halt from 1900 to around 1926.

Steam locomotives frequently required banking assistance in getting their heavy trains up the incline, particularly in the northbound direction, which had steeper gradients. There was an engine shed at Beattock which had banking locomotives on standby twenty-four hours per day to minimise train delays.

The severity of the climb to the summit is referenced in W. H. Auden's poem Night Mail, written in 1936 for the G.P.O. Film Unit's celebrated production of the same name.

Electric locomotives, as far back as the Class 86, as well as today's Virgin Trains services, climb the gradient without assistance.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Auchencastle Line open; Station closed		Caledonian Railway Main Line		Elvanfoot Line open; Station closed

References

Sources

• RAILSCOT on Caledonian Railway
• Beattock Summit on navigable OS map
• British Transport Films, (1974). "Wires over the Border". Disc One, Track 5, In: British Transport Films Collection. Volume 3: Running a Railway. (DVD Format), BFIVD720.