Railways of Ayrshire

Gordon Thomson

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781785001482
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Transporte ferroviario

In the early 1800s, Ayrshire was already established as a prosperous, mainly rural agricultural county. The realization that there was abundant coal and (to a lesser extent) iron ore deposits to be exploited, together with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, rendered the area wide open to the 'railway mania' that swept Britain in the mid to late 1800s. The proximity of the county north to Glasgow and south to Carlisle (and thence south) made it an attractive proposition for early railway developers. Gordon Thomson explores the history and development of the railway routes in Ayrshire; how the coming of the railways changed the face of the area and supported the growth of industry. It looks at how services evolved through the eras of LMS, nationalization and privatization, and the preservation and heritage scene in Ayrshire. Superbly illustrated with 273 colour and black & white photographs.

CHAPTER 1

Early Beginnings: to 1850

Early Wagon-Ways

The first railways, not in the sense we know nowadays but more accurately described as ‘wagonways’, appeared in the district round the county town of Ayr, to link the primitive early coal-mines in the districts of Auchincruive and Annbank with the town and harbour. There is little or no written record of these early wagon-ways, only a study of old maps prove their existence, plus some remains of structures such as bridges and embankments, now long reclaimed by nature. There is certainly no photographic record. There appear to have been several in existence – mostly short in length and in the time they were in use. The biggest and longest appeared to be one that eventually stretched from Ayr Harbour all the way to Annbank, some 5 miles, with various spurs and short branches to various small coal-mines. All were powered by horse and would have had cast-iron rails of undefined gauges. The technology of rail transport had thus been proved, and these early wagon-ways were shortly to be superseded by the real thing.

Kilmarnock and Troon

A little further north from Ayr, the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway is generally regarded as one of the first railways to be built in Scotland, if not the United Kingdom; certainly the first in Scotland to be built under an Act of Parliament.

Kilmarnock; BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 73102 with a train for Glasgow St Enoch. ARTHUR WILSON

Gatehead; 09.10 Ayr–Carlisle (19 May 1979). MATT MILLER

In the early 1800s, the fourth Duke of Portland operated a number of coal-mines around Kilmarnock. Much of the output was exported by sea from the nearby harbour at Troon. An easy and efficient way of transporting coal to Troon was required, so, in 1807, the Duke of Portland appointed William Jessop to survey a route for a plateway or railway. An Act of Parliament was obtained the following year. Work was duly started to build the line over the undemanding terrain between the two towns, and the new line was completed and ready for use in 1812. The rails were cast-iron angles taking wagons with flangeless wheels that were drawn by horses. The rails were laid on stone blocks with a gauge of 4ft (1.2m), there being no standard gauge at that time. The new railway cost £40,000 to build and was 9½ miles (15km) long.

In 1813, a horse-drawn passenger coach was built and carried the name ‘Caledonian’; this almost certainly was the start of rail-passenger services in Scotland. This commenced carrying passengers between the two towns on 1 May 1813 and was run by William Wright of Kilmarnock. The coach ran only in the summer months on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with the return fare being two shillings and sixpence (12.5p nowadays), although a reduced fare of one shilling and sixpence was charged if you travelled on the roof of the coach.

Gatehead; former station and signal box (7 July 1987).

Propulsion by steam was being developed by George Stevenston in the north-east of England, and in 1817 the railway ordered a locomotive, at a cost of £750, to try out on the railway. The new locomotive duly arrived and was named ‘The Duke’. It was put to work and caused quite a stir in the area, a sight the likes of which had never been seen before. It was the first steam locomotive to work in Scotland. It was able to haul loads of up to 30 tons (30,480kg) of coal at 5mph (8km/h). The one drawback was that the cast-iron rails frequently broke under the weight of the locomotive, adding considerably to the maintenance of the railway. The Duke was withdrawn from service in the 1830s and was scrapped for the sum of £13.

Two of the bridges on the route are of interest. The first was at the village of Drybridge. The tiny village took its name after the railway was built, as at the time it was unprecedented for a bridge to span anything other than water – hence it was a ‘dry bridge’. The other is found near the village of Gatehead, at the Laigh Milton Mill. It is a four-archspan viaduct over the River Irvine, probably the first railway viaduct in the world. It was superseded by a new alignment of the railway in 1846 and became derelict. After 150 years of neglect, and almost on the point of collapse, it was re...