Gatehead

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Gatehead (1847-1969)

Opened on the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station to the west of a level crossing. The main station building was on the eastbound platform. The goods yard was on the south side of the line, approached from the west. There was a signal box at the level crossing, on the west side of the road and south side of the line.

A mineral line, reached by reversal, led off from the same location as the connection to the goods yard, it ran north to Windyedge Colliery and east to Moorfield Colliery.

To the west of the station the line followed three different routes over the years to cross the River Irvine, the original route being via the Laigh Milton Viaduct. This had quite tight curves considerably eased by the present alignment. (The old alignment passed south of the existing line before swinging north to the viaduct.)

To the east was Fairlie Junction for a mineral line which ran south.

The station closed to passengers in 1969. The box became a gate box only in 1974, when the line was singled, and closed, during the general resignalling of Ayrshire, in 1986.

The line remains open but now single track. Little remains of the station except a railway cottage north west of the level crossing.

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map




Nearby stations
Riccarton and Craigie
Drybridge
Crosshouse
Kilmarnock (St Marnocks)
Springside
Kilmarnock [1st]
Kilmarnock
Dreghorn
Kilmaurs
Cunninghamhead
Hurlford
Barleith Halt
Gailes
Barassie
Irvine Bank Street
Fairlie Junction
Thirdpart Siding
Gatehead Colliery Coal Pit
Milton Lye
Thirdpart Junction
Gatehead Colliery Coal Pit
Laigh Milton Viaduct
Caprington Junction
Farmfield Pit
Fairlie Colliery No 3 Pit
Colliery
Mount Colliery
Coal Pit
Thornton Colliery Coal Pit
Tourist/other
Caprington Castle
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.


News items

31/07/2023Reason to bee cheerful on Scotland's Railway [Network Rail]
27/07/2022Railway between Kilmarnock and Barassie set to re-open next week [Network Rail]
05/07/2022Ayrshire train disruption: Rail bosses explain more on sinkhole repair work [Ayr Advertiser]
01/07/2022Ayrshire train disruption: Rail bosses explain more on sinkhole repair work [Ayr Advertiser]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

Britains Historic Railway Buildings: A Gazetteer of Structures and Sites

Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: An Oxford Gazetteer of Structures and Sites

National Series of Waterway, Tramway and Railway Atlases: Ayrshire v. 1h

Origins of the Scottish Railway System 1722-1844

The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s

THE RAILWAY HERITAGE OF BRITAIN: 150 YEARS OF RAILWAY ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING.