page_title: Industry and the Eglinton Castle estate
section_title: Waggonways
hierarchical_section_title: Industry and the Eglinton Castle estate / Transportation / External / Waggonways
caption_attribution_description: English: Benjamin Outram's Little Eaton Gangway in July 1908 with the last train of loaded coal wagons arriving
context_page_description: The Eglinton Castle estate was situated at Irvine, on the outskirts of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland in the former district of Cunninghame. Eglinton Castle, was once home to the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. Eglinton Country Park now occupies part of the site.
  A dense network of mineral railway lines existed in the 19th and 20th centuries; the trackbed now being used as cycle paths in several places. A complex set of collieries, coal pits, tile works, fire-clay works and workers villages are evident from records such as OS maps. Little now remains of the buildings and railway lines, apart from at Lady Ha' Colliery, but irregular depressions in the ground, embankments, cuttings, coal bings and abandoned bridges all bear witness to what was at one time a very active coalfield with associated industries and infrastructure.
context_section_description: As early as 1725 a waggonway was planned and possibly built from a Fergushill coal pit to Irvine Harbour.
  The Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway was built by the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal company as a waggonway between Ardrossan harbour and Kilwinning which opened in 1831. It was initially built to the Scotch gauge of 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) and was worked by horses. It had a passenger services worked by a carriages, which held 24 passengers; 16 inside and 8 outside. The 3-mile (4.8 km) long Doura branch left the main line north of Stevenston (Dubbs Junction) and ran east (past where the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway later crossed over it) to a bridge crossing the River Garnock just before the Dirrans sawmill. From there it ran northeast (on an embankment beside Bannoch Road) to reach the Doura pit.
  The 0.5-mile (0.80 km) North Fergus Hill branch left the Doura branch at South Fergushill, just after the Lugton Water crossing to reach the Fergus Hill coal pit. Crossing gates were located at Dirrans, Corsehill, Saughtrees and Fergushill. Clonbeith siding was located near the Fergushill gates. The Fergushill drive entrance into the Eglinton Estate passed Chapelholm Woods was carried over the railway by a bridge; this has since been demolished.
  In 1833 Sir James Cunningham extended the Doura branch to his extensive coal and fireclay workings at Perceton. Up until the 1850s this line was worked using horse haulage. Each wagon carried about one ton of coal. The Doura branch was private until 1839 when the Ardrossan Railway Company came into being.
  In 1836 60,000 tons of coal were carried to Ardrossan on the waggonway from the Earl's Kilwinning pits. Between 28 July 1834 and September 1835 over 21,000 people had been carried on the railway using the regular passenger service. By the late 1830s the annual figure was around 30,000.
  A rare waggon-way bridge for the original 1.37 metres / 4 ft 6 in horse drawn railway (later relaid as standard gauge) still survives near South Fergushill farm on the B 785 Fergushill Road (see photograph), this being part of a 22-mile (35 km) long line that ran from the Doura pit to Ardrossan.
caption: A typical wagonway, the Little Eaton Gangway
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