The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) was a railway in Scotland that provided train services between Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Ayr. It opened its first line, between Glasgow and Ayr, in stages from 1839 to 1840. The section between Glasgow and Paisley was made jointly with the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway. Later it built a line from Dalry via Kilmarnock to Cumnock, linking there with the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway, and together forming a through route from Glasgow to Carlisle. The two companies merged to form the Glasgow and South Western Railway.
The original main line from Glasgow to Ayr, and the line from Kilmarnock to Carlisle, are in use today, although many intermediate stations and branch lines have closed.
History
Earliest lines Coal and other minerals were extracted in the west of Scotland from medieval times; getting the heavy product to market was always a challenge, and this encouraged the development of tracked systems; the earliest platewaysPlateways used L-shaped rails and the wagons had plain wheels; the guidance was achieved through the upstand of the "L" and the wagons could run conveniently on ordinary ground at the terminals, for example. in the vicinity of Ayr date from—at the latest—1775.Harry Broad, Rails to Ayr: 18th and 19th Century Coal Waggonways, Ayr Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1991
In 1812 the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway opened, also a horse-operated plateway, constructed to carry coal from the Kilmarnock area to the harbour at Troon, for onward conveyance by coastal shipping; it was the first railway in Scotland to have an authorising act of Parliament, the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway Act 1808 (48 Geo. 3. c. xlvi).
In the late 1820s, several further mineral railways were constructed in the west of Scotland: the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, opened in 1826, proved a remarkable success in carrying coal from the collieries near Airdrie and was quickly followed by the Ballochney Railway. These "coal railways" used horse traction (mostly) and short cast iron rails on stone block sleepers. The key technical advance was that they used "edge rails": the guidance was provided by flanges on the wheels of the wagons. These lines showed the way forward.C J A Robertson, The Origins of the Scottish Railway System: 1722-1844, John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, 1983, Don Martin, The Monkland and Kirkintilloch and Associated Railways, Strathkelvin Public Libraries, Kirkintilloch, 1995,
In 1831 the Ardrossan Railway opened; it too was a horse-operated line using stone block sleepers, but passenger operation was a major part of its objective. It was conceived as a means of developing Ardrossan Harbour as the sea port for Glasgow. However, the promoters were unable to raise sufficient money to build the whole of their line; moreover recent improvements to the navigability of the River Clyde enabled sea-going ships to reach the city. Accordingly, the line was truncated, and only reached a terminal at Kilwinning and collieries east of that town. Nonetheless, it was a considerable commercial success, carrying passengers and in enabling coal, particularly from the pits belonging to the Earl of Eglinton to be exported at Ardrossan, and it further emphasised the viability of railways.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway had opened the previous year, and proved a remarkable success in abstracting traffic from the parallel canal, and indicated that longer distances, not merely feeders to a harbour or from a colliery, could be dealt with, and everywhere business people were considering where a railway might advantageously be built next. When the Grand Junction Railway was authorised in 1833, it was possible to consider that railways might one day link central Scotland and the south of England.David Ross, The Glasgow and South Western Railway: A History, Stenlake Publishing Limited, Catrine, 2014,
Glasgow to Ayr and Kilmarnock By 1835 the idea of building a railway from Glasgow into Ayrshire gained sufficient support for a survey to be commissioned from John Miller, a partner in the firm of Grainger and Miller, which had been heavily involved in the earlier railways in the west of Scotland. Miller proposed a route from Tradeston, in Glasgow at the south end of Glasgow Bridge, through Paisley and the Garnock Valley to Kilwinning and Ayr, with a branch from Dalry to Kilmarnock. The cost was to be £550,000 and a 10% return could be expected; notwithstanding the south-westerly course of the line, it was foreseen as a first step towards linking with railways in England.
Interests in Kilmarnock were dismayed to be consigned to a branch line, and the Burgh Council of Kilmarnock commissioned Scott, Stephen and Gale, an engineering partnership "which was not to make a mark on railway engineering"Robertson, page 138 to plan a more direct route. Plotting a direct route was easy, but gradients were severe, earthworks would be formidable, and there was much less intermediate business. Gale was a rival canal company's engineer, and was hardly impartial. It was necessary to bring in someone to settle the matter; George Stephenson gave a report supporting Miller's choice of route.
Raising capital proved straightforward, and it was possible to present a bill for the line in the 1837 session of Parliament. There was strenuous opposition from river and canal interests, but this was overcome. At the time the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway (GP&GR) was also promoting its line, with a similar route from Tradeston to Paisley. It became obvious that Parliament would be hostile to the formation of two adjacent lines, so it was determined to build the line jointly as far as Paisley. Both the (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. cxvii) and the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. cxvi) received royal assent on 15 July 1837. The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway Act 1837 authorised share capital of £625,000, and £208,300 in loans. The line was to be constructed simultaneously from each end, to prevent the experience of the Ardrossan Railway which failed to build the eastern end of its authorised line.Whishaw, p. 114Awdry, page 77
The gauge of the new line was not yet determined, although the estimates had been prepared on the basis that it would not exceed 6 feet. Many of Grainger and Miller's lines had been to a gauge of 4 ft 6in; the Dundee and Newtyle Railway (1831) had been at and the Dundee and Arbroath Railway, authorised in 1836, was to be . Connections to local railways were considered important in determining the gauge, but the engineer Joseph Locke urged that conformity to the gauge of the English railways was important, and in the end this was adopted: standard gauge, .Locke was advising the Glasgow Paisley and Greenock company, and it was their decision to conform to the gauge of railways in England that obliged the to follow suit.Campbell Highet, The Glasgow and South Western Railway, Oakwood Press, Lingfield, 1965
Construction starts Construction of the line, supervised by Grainger and Miller, proved challenging, as a large-scale contracting industry was not yet in place in Scotland; nor was large-scale financing.SLS, page 2 At the end of 1838 Miller was instructed to build a branch from Barassie to Troon Harbour, earlier thoughts of taking over the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway and converting it—as it was then still a horse-operated plateway—having been dropped.
In 1839 the Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway was engaged in converting its gauge to standard so as to interwork with the GPK&AR (with which it was to connect at Kilwinning), and the following year it changed its name to the Ardrossan Railway.
Opening—in stages After a directors' special run between Ayr (north of the river, at Newton-on-Ayr) and Irvine on 19 July 1839, the line opened to the public between those points on 5 August 1839. The Eglinton Tournament, held on Friday 30 August, resulted in huge demand for tickets. For the railway, this was an enormous success and that limited section of the line made a surplus of £500 from opening to the end of that year. The section between Irvine and Kilwinning opened on 23 March 1840.
On 13 July 1840 the joint line between Paisley and a temporary terminus in Glasgow at Bridge Street was ready for a demonstration run, opening fully to the public the following day.
The remainder of the main line opened in further stages, and the dates for the whole line were: Glasgow Bridge Street (temporary station) to Paisley (Joint Line): 14 July 1840; Paisley to a temporary station at Howwood (then spelt Howood): 21 July 1840; Howood to Beith: 12 August 1840; Howood station then closed; Beith to Kilwinning: 21 July 1840; Kilwinning to Irvine: 23 March 1840; Irvine to Ayr (Newton-on-Ayr): 19 July 1839.SLS
The permanent Bridge Street station opened on 6 April 1841.
The GPK&AR moved their head offices to Bridge Street from Gordon Street in March 1841.SLS, page 6
The construction of the main line was stated to have overrun estimated costs considerably, and at a shareholders' meeting in February 1841 it was stated that as a result, the Kilmarnock branch could not be started until authority for additional capital had been obtained, and of course the money actually raised. Kilmarnock had to be content with a coach connection until the line there from Dalry Junction opened on 4 April 1843.Robertson, page 118Wham, p. 54
By rail and sea to London
The opening of the line and the conversion of the Ardrossan railway to run in connection, enabled a fast service— hours—between Glasgow and London to be instituted. The fast steamer Fire King plied on alternate days between Ardrossan and Liverpool; from May 1841 the English terminal was transferred to Fleetwood following the opening of the Preston & Wyre Railway and Dock Company. The service only lasted a few days and was not a commercial success; the GPK&AR sold the vessel to James Burns, who continued the service but "soon withdrew it", transferring the boat to a route to Ireland.
The railway route to England
From the time the GPK&AR was authorised, controversy raged about the route a railway to England might take. It was plain that Carlisle would be reached from the south; a direct route from Glasgow over the Southern Uplands, the route that became known as the Annandale line, would involve severe gradients, and pass through almost unpopulated territory. The locomotives available at the time were not thought to be capable of climbing the steep inclines, and rope haulage was put forward by some as the solution. By contrast, a route from Kilmarnock through Cumnock and Dumfries—the Nithsdale line—would have much easier gradients and pass through considerable population centres, bringing in additional traffic. Moreover, the Nithsdale route would be much cheaper to build.
The government intervened and in 1839 appointed two royal commissioners to determine the way forward; at this time there was a presumption that one railway route from Scotland to England would suffice; but which? There was no consensus between expert witnesses, and in 1840 the commissioners reported that the Annandale route should prevail, but "the promoters must prove their bona fide intention to complete the English portion of the line, otherwise preference would be given to the East Coast route" (from Edinburgh via Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle upon Tyne). This stalled the whole process: there was no such single group as "the promoters" of any route via Carlisle, and in fact the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was not authorised until 1844.