 The Caledonian set about getting access to the Clyde at Broomielaw by sponsoring the nominally independent General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway which constructed berthing a short distance downstream from Glasgow Bridge on the south side, and built a railway to it from Gushetfaulds (Larkfield Junction).The construction was finished by December 1848 but it connected to the Clydesdale Junction Railway which was only completed the following year.The General Terminus represented considerable progress in bulk handling of minerals, but it was still limited in capacity, as the vessels had to lie alongside the bank, and the improvements to the navigation of the Clyde had not yet been completed.