Holm Junction

Location type

Junction

Name and dates

Holm Junction (1878-)

Opened on the Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway.
Opened on the Largs Branch (Glasgow and South Western Railway).

Description

This junction is immediately west of Ardrossan South Beach station. The lines from Glasgow to Ardrossan Harbour and Largs divide here.

The Ardrossan Harbour line follows, more or less, the course of the Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway of 1831. It was regauged and realigned as the Ardrossan Railway in 1840 to open in connection with the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway.

In 1878 the Largs branch began from a triangular junction which made two connections with the existing railway; Castlehill Junction to the west and Holm Junction to the east. A signal box opened on the north side of the new junction.

Also in 1878 Ardrossan Shed [GSW] [2nd] opened. Its lines spread out between Holm Junction in the south east and Parkhouse Junction to the north.

Ardrossan South Beach opened in 1883.

The shed closed in 1966 and the Castlehill Junction to Parkhouse Junction curve closed in 1969.

The signal box closed in 1986 when lines were electrified and signalling was taken over by Paisley Signalling Centre. In addition the Ardrossan Harbour line was singled, a turnback siding ws installed on part of the former shed site and the Largs branch altered. The branch is double track, however passenger trains use the former northbound line bidirectionally. Freight trains can also uses the northbound line but the former southbound line can only be used for freight from the former Hunterston Ore Terminal. With this facility's closure it was be sensible to being it back into passenger use and reinstate Glasgow bound platforms at West Kilbride and Ardrossan South Beach.

Tags

Junction


Chronology Dates

  /01/1979Ravenscraig Steel WorksLargs Branch (Glasgow and South Western Railway)
Hunterston Ore Terminal opened with a 3500 ton crane for ore and 2500 ton crane for coal. Hunterston Ore Terminal to Holm Junction re-opened to freight.

Books


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

Ardrossan (North) 1895: Ayrshire Sheet 16.01 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Ayrshire)

Ardrossan (South) 1895: Ayrshire Sheet 16.05 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Ayrshire)

Gourock to Largs Coast Through Time

Kilwinning 1895: Ayrshire Sheet 16.04 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Ayrshire)

Largs 1895: Ayrshire Sheet 03.12 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Ayrshire)

Old Ardrossan

Old Kilwinning

Old Largs

Old West Kilbride

Origins of the Scottish Railway System 1722-1844

The Glasgow & South Western Railway a History