Travel Arbroath to Greenock 1841

[reidfd]

I am seeking advice on which mode of transport my ancestors may have used to travel from their home in Arbroath to Greenock in order to board ship as bounty emigrants bound for the colony of New South Wales in early June 1841?   An 1846 map obtained from the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/joins/1037.html  shows a railway line from Arbroath to Cupar Angus only, then another railway line from Edinburgh continuous to Greenock.  It depends what railway lines were actually in existence in 1841, but would they have traveled by train on the two railways mentioned  and bridged the gap between the two railway lines by horse drawn coach, or would the journey have been by other means? 

[Forfarian]

I am seeking advice on which mode of transport my ancestors may have used to travel from their home in Arbroath to Greenock in order to board ship as bounty emigrants bound for the colony of New South Wales in early June 1841?   An 1846 map obtained from the National Library of Scotland https://maps.nls.uk/joins/1037.html  shows a railway line from Arbroath to Cupar Angus only, then another railway line from Edinburgh continuous to Greenock.  It depends what railway lines were actually in existence in 1841, but would they have traveled by train on the two railways mentioned  and bridged the gap between the two railway lines by horse drawn coach, or would the journey have been by other means?

I don't know offhand when the railway from Arbroath to Coupar Angus was opened, but I do happen to know that the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow was opened in 1842. I would be surprised if the Arbroath to Coupar Angus line was earlier than this.

So no, your folk did not travel by rail from Arbroath to Greenock.

They might have travelled by sea to Edinburgh, and then via the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal, then by sea again to Greenock. Or they might have gone by coach or cart, or even walked at least part of the way.

[Forfarian]

I have done a wee bit of searching online, and I am indeed surprised. I see that the line from Dundee to Newtyle was opened in 1831, and the line from Dundee to Arbroath piecemeal between 1838 and 1840. The two lines had different guages so there could not have been any through trains.

So your folks might have gone from Arbroath to Dundee, and then from Dundee to Newtyle, but that would be a complicated way to do it, and how would they have continued their journey from Newtyle? Far simpler to go by sea and canal.

[reidfd]

Forfarian
Thank you for your advice.  Living in Australia, I am not alert to the travel options they may have had.
Particularly your advice "by sea to Edinburgh, and then via the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal, then by sea again to Greenock".  I am writing a book about the emigrant couple and while we will never know just how they travelled to Greenock, you have given me the options I can at least mention.  I will include a map in the book to identify these options.
Regards
Reidfd (David)