More here:
http://www.perryweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/canal/guide/gpj.html
The Paisley Canal Line
1st July 1885 - Paisley Canal line opened by the Glasgow and South Western Railway on the route of the Ardrossan canal.
10th January 1983 - Passenger services on the Paisley Canal and Kilmacolm line ended.
10th November 1984 - The line from Hawkhead through Paisley Canal to Elderslie was completely closed.
28th July 1990 - The Paisley Canal route was reopened.
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Little remains of the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal, which extended for 11 miles (17 km) from Johnstone to Port Eglinton (which no longer exists, but lay close to Eglinton Street, some ½ mile (1 km) south of Glasgow Bridge).
Promoted and partially funded by Hugh Montgomerie of Coilsfield, the 12th Earl of Eglinton (1739 - 1819), the canal cost some £130,000 to build. The engineers John Rennie (1761 - 1821) and Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834) were involved in planning the canal and John Ainslie (1745 - 1821) surveyed the route. Originally designed to reach the Ayrshire coast at Ardrossan, it was only built as far as Johnstone before funds ran out. This was a contour canal, which meant it was entirely level and needed no locks.
The canal transported a range of raw materials and finished good, such as coal, ironstone, bricks, slates timber, grain and textiles. Passenger traffic was also significant and novel express passenger boats were brought into service in 1830, pulled by six horses. This service carried up to 400,000 passengers each year and continued until the opening of the railways.
The canal was taken over by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company in 1869 and was eventually closed by Act of Parliament in 1881. In that year a railway track was laid along the section between Glasgow and Paisley, a route now linking Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal station. The Blackhall Aqueduct survives as a railway bridge, but it is in the environs of the Ferguslie Thread Works in Paisley that the canal is best preserved.
James H
He's over there...