 In the first half of the twentieth century, the extractive industries of the West of Scotland underwent a metamorphosis. The small pits were either worked out or were mechanised and merged. A similar process took place in the iron and steel production industries, and the medium scale iron works in many locations closed down. Many railway branch lines had been heavily dependent on business from the mineral industries, and could not be sustained when they had gone, but some continued as passenger lines where they served sizable communities.
