Shieldmuir railway station

Shieldmuir
Location
Place	Wishaw
Local authority	North Lanarkshire
Coordinates	55°46′39″N 3°57′28″W / 55.7774°N 3.9578°WCoordinates: 55°46′39″N 3°57′28″W / 55.7774°N 3.9578°W
Grid reference	NS773554
Operations
Station code	SDM
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	6,637
2005/06	8,180
2006/07	10,604
2007/08	23,008
2008/09	44,774
2009/10	48,882
2010/11	57,306
2011/12	56,784
2012/13	69,500
2013/14	81,376
History
14 May 1990[1]	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Shieldmuir from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Shieldmuir railway station is a railway station in the Craigneuk suburb of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, and lies on the West Coast Main Line, although it is not served by mainline services - local commuter services from the station are provided via the Argyle Line by Abellio ScotRail on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. The station is close to Wishaw railway station. The bulk of commuters are from the nearby suburbs of Craigneuk and Muirhouse, which it spans the border between. The bridge used to cross the railway also connects the two towns. Although Shieldmuir can be used to reach Wishaw General Hospital by train, it and Wishaw station are both a considerable distance away for any visitors there.

The station is served by half-hourly service (more during weekday peak hours, hourly on Sundays) between Lanark and Glasgow Central via Motherwell, Bellshill and Cambuslang.^[2] Prior to the December 2014 timetable change, trains ran via Central Low Level to stations on the North Clyde Line but no longer do so - passengers now need to change at Cambuslang or Central to reach these destinations.

Shieldmuir is also the northern terminus for the Royal Mail's railway-based distribution system - a large mail depot lies next to the station, from which the Royal Mail operates its fleet of Class 325 mail trains to and from London and Warrington via the WCML.

The station is unstaffed and has ramp access to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. It has full CCTV coverage on both platforms and entrances. It can be reached by car from Craigneuk due to its proximity to John Street and Kimberly Street; however there is a relatively lengthy footpath between the station and Shieldmuir Street, Muirhouse. It does not have any official provision for parking and it cannot be directly reached by any of the new private housing estates being built near the site.

The local authority proposed in 2005 to either move the entire station almost 1 mile to the north or close it and reopen the former Flemington station nearby (closed in 1965), to cater for the new Ravenscraig development.^[3] This plan was subsequently dropped in 2007.^[4]

Although the station was originally developed to help regenerate this area of Wishaw, which has suffered from the closure of two major businesses (British Steel Corporation's Ravenscraig works, and the Clyde Alloy) its use has recently doubled. However, its remote location led to vandalism and intimidation for users prior to the installation of CCTV there. Proposals to move the station may be met with some opposition though, as the area around the station has recently seen large amounts of house building activity, and closure of the station could affect local house prices.

There is no modern town of Shieldmuir, but Shieldmuir Plantation is noted on an 1859 map of the area as having existed between Shieldmuir and Muirhouse coalpits, roughly where the station lies today.^[5]

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 210.
2. Table 225 National Rail timetable, May 2016
3. "Rail link proposed for Ravenscraig development" Yule, Brian Motherwell Times article 23 November 2005; Retrieved 22 August 2016
4. "Plan to slash Shieldmuir station car parking"Mothwell Times article 9 June 2010; Retrieved 22 August 2016
5. http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/6inch/view/?sid=74427707

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.