page_title: Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway
section_title: Regaining momentum
hierarchical_section_title: Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway / History / Regaining momentum
caption_attribution_description: Title from the Detroit Publishing Co., catalogue J-foreign section. Detroit, Mich.&#160;: Detroit Photographic Company, 1905.; More information about the Photochrom Print Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.pgz; Print no. "13137".; Forms part of: Views of landscape and architecture in Scotland in the Photochrom print collection.
context_page_description: The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway 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.
context_section_description: Although in difficulties for cash, the GD&CR started construction; obstructions by the Caledonian Railway at the Gretna end were eventually resolved, and a fresh Act structuring the merger with the GPK&AR was passed (on 9 July 1847), but "so heavily amended ... as to be useless to the Companies".
  On 1 March 1847 the Kilmarnock and Troon line reopened, as a standard gauge locomotive operated railway. It had been closed for the modernisation work, and it now provided a proper link from Kilmarnock to the coast. The GPK&AR opened a short connecting spur between its own line and the K&TR in Kilmarnock. On the same day a branch at Dalry to Swinlees was opened; there was a copper mine there.
  On 22 July 1847 the company acquired control of the Paisley and Renfrew Railway under the Paisley & Renfrew Railway Sale and Improvement Act. ,. The purchase had earlier been agreed by the proposed Paisley, Barrhead and Hurlet Railway, supported by the GPK&AR, for £34,000. It was horse-operated and had a track gauge of 4 ft 4in (1,321 mm). The line was loss-making and had no practical value other than the tactical one of securing territory against competing companies. The Paisley Barrhead and Hurlet Bill failed in the 1847 session of Parliament and was re-presented in 1848; the share capital proposed had risen to £230,000; during the Lords' hearings it became plain that running powers were likely to be granted to the Barrhead and Neilston Direct Railway, an offshoot of the Caledonian Railway. The GPK&AR had subscribed to £150,000 in face value of the shares of this proposed line, with the sole intention of excluding the Caledonian Railway from the area. The GPK&AR now petitioned against the Bill, but this was unsuccessful, and it received the Royal Assent, with the running powers clause, on 31 August 1848.
  Having a majority shareholding, the GPK&AR was able to stall any plans to proceed with construction of the Hurlet line, but on 9 October a special GPK&AR Shareholders' Meeting reviewed the financial commitments made by their Board in the frenzied days of 1845 and 1846, when support to numerous new lines had been committed; the meeting left the directors in no doubt as to their disapproval.
  On 28 May 1848 a line opened between Irvine and Busbie, about 2 miles (3 km) north-west of Kilmarnock; a short branch to Irvine Harbour opened on the same day. The Cumnock line as far as Auchinleck and the Muirkirk branch from that point, opened on 9 August. This included the Ballochmyle Viaduct, located near Catrine; it was built with a central span of 181 feet (55.2 m) and 175 feet (53.3 m) high above the River Ayr. It was the largest masonry arch span in the world at the time of its completion, and is the highest railway bridge in Britain.
  Also on 9 August 1848 the Newmilns branch opened from Hurlford to Galston.
  A branch to Perceton Colliery (a short northward spur from the Irvine -  Busbie line) opened on 26 June 1848. On 1 July 1848, a Perceton branch from the Doura line of the Ardrossan Railway opened. It was actually the only part of the Glasgow Kilmarnock and Ardrossan Railway to be built; it became part of the Ardrossan Railway.
  On 26 February 1849 the Fairlie branch of the former Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was opened.
caption: Ballochmyle Viaduct
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