Background

Kilwinning

Bogside

Irvine

Stevenston

Saltcoats

Ardrossan

Montgomerie
Pier

Giffen

Lugton

Auchenmade

Uplawmoor

Brackenhills

Glengarnock

Kilbirnie

Neilston

Patterton

Whitecraigs

Muirend

Kirkhill

Newton

Ardrossan Harbour had come to increasing prominence as a coal port by 1880; export coal came largely from Lanarkshire: 84 collieries in the Hamilton area were sending coal to Ardrossan,^[1] and the Caledonian Railway was dominant in the coalfield region. However the coal was transported by rail from the pits to Gushetfaulds (in south Glasgow) and handed to the rival Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) there for onward haulage. If the Caledonian could make a railway to Ardrossan, all of this lucrative traffic would fall to them.

Moreover, the towns in the area, including Saltcoats and Stevenston, as well as Irvine, were of growing importance for industrial activity and serving them would bring further passenger and goods revenue.

The first train timetable for the line in 1888

The Caledonian Railway had earlier entertained hopes of building from the Glasgow Barrhead and Neilston Railway (which later formed the trunk of the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway: the GB&KJR) to the Ardrossan Railway but those plans were based on dubious share acquisition which the Caledonian could not afford at the time, and that opportunity had long since been lost.^[2][3] Nonetheless the GB&KJR was only six miles (9 km) from the G&SWR line at one point. Closing that gap would be hugely advantageous to the Caledonian.^[1][3]

Authorisation

The L&AR system in 1890

Encouraged and supported by the Caledonian Railway, a group of promoters submitted an independent Bill for the 1883 session, and it gained the Royal Assent on 20 August 1883: the Barrmill and Kilwinning Railway was authorised. It was empowered to build from the Barrmill branch of the GB&KJR line to a new junction with the G&SWR at Kilwinning.

The Earl of Eglinton was the owner of Ardrossan Harbour and wished to encourage any initiative that would enhance the value of his property, and he lent his support to the scheme. Encouraged by this, the company presented a Bill in the 1884 session for a much more ambitious scheme, dropping the junction with the G&SWR and making lines to Ardrossan itself, and to Irvine and Kilbirnie. The 1884 Act also changed the company's name to The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway. Its capital was £375,000. A further Act was obtained in 1885 authorising substantial subscription in the scheme by the Caledonian Railway, which was in any case going to work the line. The Caledonian also committed itself to long term carriage contracts with mineral forwarders, relying on the new line.^{[note 1]} Eglinton was made chairman of the company.^[1][2][3]

The G&SWR was alarmed by this intended incursion into its territory and quoted cheap rates for coal from Hamilton and Bothwell; it had running powers over the North British Railway lines there; however its longer mileage and the toll charges to the NBR made it impossible to sustain the cheap rates and the scheme was dropped after six months.^[1][3]

Construction and opening

The site of Ardrossan North railway station

Robert McAlpine and Company was chosen as contractor for the construction of the line.^[4]

The line from Barrmill crossed difficult terrain and had steep gradients, but from Kilwinning to Ardrossan the G&SWR was already occupying the best route, and the new line had to be content with an alignment behind all the towns, discouraging passenger use.

The first section of the line opened from Barrmill to Ardrossan station on 3 September (ceremonial) and 4 September 1888 (full public),^[1][2][3] although the extension works to the harbour at Ardrossan were incomplete, and a temporary spur was laid in to connect with the G&SWR there at first.^[3][4][5]

The Kilbirnie branch from Kilbirnie Junction, known as Giffen from 2 October 1889, was opened for goods traffic on 1 November 1889, and to passengers on 2 December 1889.^[2] Although Kilbirnie was a significant town, with a population of 3,405, the dominant feature of the branch was the ironworks at Glengarnock (and also a chemical works there), situated on the west side of the G&SWR main line. The new branch crossed over the G&SWR line and there was a large siding complex at the ironworks, already served by the G&SWR.

A half buried bridge near the site of the Saltcoats North station

The passenger service operated from Kilbirnie to Giffen only, with no through trains beyond that point.

Ardrossan lines 1890

At Ardrossan, the Montgomerie Pier station and steamer terminal was opened on 30 May 1890. This immediately ignited bitter competition for the passenger traffic between Glasgow and the Clyde islands and to Belfast, with some very fast through journeys being timetabled.

Within one week in 1899, 677 traders, merchants and industrialists of Ayr, dissatisfied with the poor service of the G&SWR monopoly, petitioned the Caledonian to extend the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire line to Ayr. The Caledonian did not immediately respond, and the Provost, Town Clerk and a deputation of magistrates went to the Caledonian headquarters and presented a written guarantee of half the traffic of 560 traders for ten years if the Caledonian would construct the line. The Caledonian seriously examined the scheme; a branch off the proposed line to Troon was considered. The (as yet unfinished) Irvine branch would be doubled and the length of the route from Glasgow would be almost identical to the G&SWR's route. Such a line would have been a coup in the battle against the rival G&SWR, but a more balanced view prevailed: the line would have cost £440,000 and would have been subject to an immediate price war, frustrating any likelihood of great profits and the construction would have exhausted the Caledonian's fund of capital for major works, for which the priority lay elsewhere.^[1]

The extension to Irvine was opened on 2 June 1890, with through carriages from Glasgow.^[1][2]

Extending eastwards

The site of the goods depot at Lissens in 2007

The petition from Ayr urged an extension south and west but the Caledonian and the L&AR were more interested in extending east and north. The L&AR had been successful in capturing the majority of the mineral traffic from Lanarkshire to Ardrossan, but it still required the heavy and slow trains to travel via the junctions on the south side of Glasgow, along congested routes. Part of the haul was along the Glasgow Barrhead and Kilmarnock joint line, shared with the GS&WR, which had difficult gradients, incurring significant extra engine power costs. In 1897 the Caledonian decided to subscribe £152,000 towards the £502,000 cost of extending the L&AR line back from Giffen to Newton. This would considerably shorten the route from the mineral areas and escape involvement with the G&SWR altogether.

The authorising Act of Parliament was obtained on 1 July 1897. The L&AR got authority to build from a junction at Giffen on its line south of the convergence with the GB&KJR near Barrmill, running eastwards south of the earlier line and crossing over the GB&KJR main line south of Lugton, then running north east parallel to that line. It ran to a new Neilston station above the GB&KJR line, then through Whitecraigs to Cathcart, where it connected with the Cathcart District Railway, giving direct access over Caledonian controlled lines to Glasgow Central. The line continued from Cathcart via Burnside to Newton, on the main line to Hamilton and Motherwell.

The L&AR in 1904

This line was opened from Giffen to Cathcart for goods on 1 April 1903, and for passengers on 1 May 1903. The Cathcart to Newton section was opened on 6 January 1904: now the Caledonian had a fully independent route from Lanarkshire to Ardrossan.^[1][3]

While the imperative for the line was mineral traffic, the Caledonian saw that suburban passenger traffic was a growth area since the opening of Glasgow Central station in 1879, and the Cathcart lines from 1886. Urban tramway competition (with horse traction at first) was developing as a competitive threat in the city, with which the Caledonian wished to compete. Stations were opened between Neilston and Kirkhill in relatively rural areas as a speculative development.^[1]

Loss of traffic

A major threat was already on the horizon, however, as the Rothesay Dock in Clydebank was under construction. It opened in 1907, equipped with modern mechanical handling equipment for bulk minerals; it was only 20 miles (32 km) from most of the coalfields, and sea-going ships could be loaded there. Much traffic was immediately diverted from Ardrossan, and use of the expensive new L&AR route declined steeply.

After World War I passenger traffic as well as goods and mineral business declined further. Worse was to come, for the Railways Act 1921 put both the G&SWR and the Caledonian/L&AR routes under common ownership of the new London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The former G&SWR routes had better connectivity for the now sparse traffic, and on 28 July 1930 the first closure, to passenger traffic on the Irvine branch, took place. Total closure of the branch followed on 30 December 1930. The Kilbirnie branch too closed in 1930.

This was followed on 4 July 1932 by cessation of local passenger services between Uplawmoor and Ardrossan. Through boat trains and excursions continued to use the line until 1939.

On 16 June 1947 a short spur was installed near Ardeer between the G&SWR and the L&AR lines, enabling G&SWR line boat trains to use Montgomerie Pier. Nonetheless the last boat train ran on the route on 10 September 1965, and the L&AR route between Stevenston and Ardrossan closed completely on 18 April 1966.^[1][5]

Electrification

In the 1960s the modernisation of the railways was on the agenda, and consideration was given to the Glasgow suburban network. In fact the North Clyde lines were electrified from 1960. From Neilston to Newton the former L&AR line was in the area of suburban travel, but Uplawmoor was rural, and it was decided to electrify the Neilston and Newton lines on the 25 kV ac system which was then becoming the standard. Cathcart Junction and station were altered (on 6 March 1961) so as to give access towards Kirkhill and Newton from Maxwell Park, and an electrical control room was built at Cathcart. Neilston and Newton were to be treated as two branches served from Glasgow Central. Public service on these routes started on 27 May 1962. The steam service to Uplawmoor had been withdrawn on 2 April 1962.^[6]

The present day

The Gree Viaduct in 2007 (now demolished), on the former line between Newton and Giffen

Today the only operational section of the former Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway is the line between Newton and Neilston. This section has become two suburban branch lines, from Newton to Glasgow Central via Kirkhill (alternating between the Maxwell Park and Mount Florida sides of the Cathcart Circle), and from Neilston to Glasgow Central via the Mount Florida side of the Cathcart Circle. The branches were electrified in the early 1960s. Frequent suburban passenger trains operate on the line, operated by ScotRail. The arrangement of the passenger platforms at Cathcart is such that the Maxwell Park to Newton trains pass behind them but cannot make a station call.^[7]

Some landmarks of the railway still exist throughout the former route: a large viaduct remains to the north of Kilwinning, now used as part of the National Cycle Network.

Two other prominent viaducts, namely the eleven arch span Gree viaduct and the seven arch span Giffenmill viaduct were both located between the former Lugton and Giffen stations were demolished in September 2006,^[8] and February 2008 respectively.^[9]

The viaduct to the north of Kilwinning in 2006

Barrmill Munitions Depot near Beith may still be active; it has a rail connection, but it has long been dormant. The route uses the first part of the GB&KJR Beith branch from Lugton to Barrmill, then continuing on the former Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway route.

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Stansfield, G. (1999). Ayrshire & Renfrewshire's Lost Railways. Ochiltree: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1-8403-3077-5.
• Thomas, John (1976). Forgotten Railways: Scotland (1st ed.). Newton Abbot: Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7185-1. OCLC 3103506.
• Thomas, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: Scotland (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8193-8. OCLC 13641185.
• Wham, Alasdair (1997). The Lost Railway Lines of Ayrshire : Ayrshire Railway Walks. Wigtown: G.C. Book Publishers. ISBN 1-8723-5027-5. OCLC 38356283.