common to the two branches, the Bathgate train, both in going and returning, will have the precedence: the signal man at Blackstone will have instructions not to turn off the signal of the Boness branch until the Bathgate train has passed on its way to Avon-Bridge; of the train proceeding to Bathgate and Boness, the latter will follow the Bathgate train at an interval not less than five minutes. The turntable was provided, and Monkland Railways passenger operation to Bathgate started on 7 July 1856. The Bathgate station was at the end of Cochrane Street, and later became Bathgate Lower station. Calderbank The 1853 Act also gave authority for a branch from Colliertree, near Rawyards, southwards to Brownsburn, where the Calderbank Iron Works would join it with an internal private railway. The Monkland Railways portion was to be 1 mile 32 chains (2.3 km). The mineral line was opened on 1 October 1855. (Some contemporary maps misleadingly refer to the Clarkston line at Rawyards as "the Brownsburn Branch".) Closing the gap The Monkland Iron and Steel Company had extensive mineral workings in the Armadale area at Cowdenhead, now connected to the extension from Bathgate, and their iron works was at Calderbank, near Airdrie. There was immediately a considerable traffic from the mines to the works, and it made a long detour, starting eastwards from Armadale, away from the direction of Calderbank, and then round via Slamannan. The Company observed that the gap of ten miles could be closed relatively cheaply, and a direct line would also connect worthwhile coalfields on the way, as well as the important paper works at Caldercruix. An Act was obtained for the purpose in July 1857 in the teeth of considerable opposition from rival promoters and others. The Act authorised a large number of branch connections and other lines, and these were constructed in priority order, with the central part of the through connection delayed. First was a short westwards extension from Cowdenhead to Standhill Junction, and from there turning back to Craigmill (otherwise known as the Woodend Branch), opened on 1 November 1858, to serve the Coltness Iron Company's mineral workings there. Similarly a short eastwards extension was made from a junction to the Clarkston Wester Monkland branch back to Stepends, with a short branch there for Wilson & Co of Summerlee Iron Works. Wilson built an internal network with a zigzag to gain