| Bowling | |
| Native Name: | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Bolan |
| Symbol Location: | gb |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Borough: | Bowling, West Dunbartonshire |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Coordinates: | 55.9311°N -4.4929°W |
| Grid Name: | Grid reference |
| Manager: | ScotRail |
| Platforms: | 2 |
| Code: | BWG |
| Transit Authority: | SPT |
| Original: | Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway |
| Pregroup: | CR and NBR |
| Postgroup: | LMS and LNER |
| Years: | 15 July 1850 |
| Events: | Opened |
| Years1: | 31 May 1858 |
| Events1: | Resited |
| Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Bowling railway station serves the village of Bowling in the West Dunbartonshire region of Scotland. This station is on the North Clyde Line, between Kilpatrick and Dumbarton East, 12miles from Glasgow Queen Street measured via Maryhill. The station is managed by ScotRail who provide all train services.
The station was opened on 15 July 1850 by the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway, and resited a few years later in 1858.
On 8 September 1933, a passenger train collided with wagons on the line due to a signalman's error. Five people were injured.[1]
In October 2023, severe flooding took place around the River Clyde following a severe weather warning from the Met Office. The Glasgow Times described the station as being "underwater"[2] while The Herald called the station "inundated with muddy water...[the] flood rising almost to the platform’s edge".[3] [4]
The station is unstaffed, and only comprises basic shelters, benches, help points, a payphone and a few cycle stands. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.[5]
The main origin or destination station for journeys to or from Bowling station in the 2022/23 period was Glasgow Queen Street, making up 5,892 of the 25,434 journeys (23.17%).
| Entries and exits | 151,079 | 113,682 | 129,518 | 113,598 | 121,129 | 96,012 | 43,916 | 31,784 | 32,502 | 33,948 | 55,820 | 55,014 | 58,878 | 34,438 | 43,894 | 61,326 | 50,366 | 5,320 | 18,274 | 25,434 |
On weekdays and Saturdays, there is a half-hourly service to Balloch northbound and Airdrie southbound. On Sundays, trains run twice per hour to Balloch as normal, but run southbound to Motherwell (with one going via Whifflet, the other via Hamilton Central).[7]
The station was made famous by a 1960 painting by the renowned railway artist, the late Terence Cuneo, who depicted a then new Blue train (Class 303) heading westbound into Bowling, passing a steam engine, which the 303 had replaced, in a siding. The painting was used as a poster 'Glasgow Electric'.[8]
https://timetables.fabdigital.uk/nrt/dec2023/206%20Glasgow%20to%20Partick,%20Milngavie,%20Yoker,%20Dalmuir,%20Dumbarton,%20Balloch%20and%20Helensburgh.pdf
