Talk:Ardrossan Railway

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Stewart 17:07, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
Stewart 20:30, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Doura branch

It is shown as passing under the Ayrshire Railway. Which railway is this? The Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway?? Stewart 20:32, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Not sure what 'Ayrshire Railway' is meant to represent, but the Doura branch actually passed under both the L&AR and the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway. It also connected to the GPK&A via sidings at the Eglinton Iron Works. --Dreamer84 20:53, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Sorry for the vagueness of my edit. The statement comes from Whishaw, so it's the Glasgow, Paisley and Ayr railway. It seems to fit with a closed line shown on the 1:50,000 OS Sheet 63 (First series, 1976). Pyrotec 20:59, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

The 1860 OS map for the area confirms that this was the case. I've seen the GPKA referred to as the 'Ayrshire Railway' in a couple of books before: was this an official name for the line at one point, or just a colloquial name that's crept into literature? --Dreamer84 21:27, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Politics! Whishall (1842) described it in the Contents as the Glasgow, Paisley and Ayr Railway . In the main body of the book it is called The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr railway once; and The Glasgow and Ayr Railway, or, as it is frequently called, the Ayrshire Railway. He then mentions the proposed Kilmarnock branch. In the Introduction, he acknowledges assistance from the Glasgow, Paisley and Ayr Railway and J.H. Humfrey Esq of the Ayrshire Railway.

I don't think the good people of Kilmarnock, in the 1840s wanted a branch railway. They got a branch, but the name of the railway appears to have been changed to indicate that Kilmarnock and Ayr were of equal importance. I've read that somewhere (possibly Robertson, Chapter 3, but I can't find it at present). Robertson mentions in detail that as the proposed railway link to Glasgow was 12 miles longer than the road, Kilmarnock Town Council paid the survey costs of an alternative route: Kilmarnock to Ayr then to Glasgow from the south, cutting out Paisley. The argument went to George Stephenson for arbitration; and Kilmarnock lost the argument. Pyrotec 22:21, 1 February 2007 (UTC)