page_title: Caledonian main line
section_title: Gradients
hierarchical_section_title: Caledonian main line / Gradients
caption_attribution_description: English: Caledonian Viaduct over the filled-in route of the Monkland Canal.
context_page_description: The Caledonian Railway main line in Scotland connected Glasgow and Edinburgh with Carlisle, via Carstairs and Beattock.
  It was opened in 1847 by the Caledonian Railway. The approach to Glasgow used railways already built, primarily for mineral traffic; these were later by-passed by a more direct route.
  Today, the route forms the northern section of the West Coast Main Line, and was electrified in the early 1970s.
context_section_description: When the main line was conceived, there were misgivings about the capacity of the locomotive power of the day to handle trains over the heavy gradients approaching Beattock summit. By the time the line was opened, the technology of locomotive design had improved, and locomotive haulage was practicable. Nonetheless Beattock summit remained a significant operational limitation, and the provision of assistant engines for all but the lightest trains was routine from Beattock station to the summit throughout the era of steam traction.
  Leaving Carlisle, gradients were moderate until just before Gretna, from where a climb of 1 in 193 - 1 in 200 started as far as Castlemilk, beyond Ecclefechan. A slight decline then followed to Nethercleugh, where the climb resumed, stiffening again to 1 in 202 after Wamphray. At Beattock the serious climbing started with a gradient of 1 in 88 increasing to 1 in 74 for ten miles to Beattock Summit. A short fall of 1 in 89 for two miles to Elvanfoot followed. From there however the descent was more gentle and longer, at a typical gradient of 1 in 240 although with several short steeper sections. This reached as far as Carstairs, after which an eight-mile climb followed. There then followed a stiffer descent of up to 1 in 102 for sixteen miles to Uddingston. From there moderate undulations led to Glasgow Central station.
  The Carstairs to Edinburgh line had difficult gradients too. From Carstairs there was a climb of 1 in 225 stiffening to 1 in 97 as far as Cobbinshaw (eleven miles) then descending at 1 in 100 for five miles, slackening to 1 in 143 almost continuously as far as Edinburgh.
caption: The Caledonian Viaduct, over the route of the Monkland Canal at Coatbridge
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