terminus was Bridge Street, on the south bank of the River Clyde. At first this was adequate but as traffic developed the arrangement became unsatisfactory. The GPK&AR absorbed another railway and was renamed the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR), and was running trains to a range of destinations in its area of influence.

Suggestions had been made for some years to connect the lines south and north of the Clyde: in 1846 a parliamentary