Kilmacolm

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Kilmalcolm (1869-1904)
Kilmacolm (1904-1983)

Station code: National Rail
Opened on the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway.

Description

This was a three platform station on the Elderslie to Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] line. Two platforms were through lines and a third, a bay on the westbound side, faced Greenock. The platforms were heavily canopied.

The goods yard was on the east side and accessed from the north via a headshunt making a trailing connection.

A signal box opened in 1882 at the north end of the station, east side of the line. It was to the north of the goods yard turnout.

The box was replaced by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway around 1925, the new box being on roughly the same location.

Sidings (wartime provision?) were laid out to the west of the station, approached from the north. These were lifted by the 1960s.

Kilmacolm to Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] was singled after 1959 when regular trains to Greenock ceased (the eastbound track was lifted). The route remained open for boat trains until 1965.

After complete closure of Kilmacolm to Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] in 1966 the Kilmacolm to Elderslie portion was reduced to a single track in 1973 (and Kilmacolm box closed). The former eastbound line and platform were retained in use.

Final closure came in 1983.

The station building, in modified form, is now a pub restaurant. Pullman Tavern Kilmacolm

Local

Sustrans - Paisley and Clyde Cycle Path

Tags

Station footpath

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
06/09/2020




Chronology Dates

01/09/1869Greenock and Ayrshire Railway
Line opened. The Glasgow and South Western Railway run services from Glasgow Bridge Street to Greenock Albert Harbour via Kilmacolm.
  /  /1922Duchal Moor Railway
Built by Sir James Lithgow in the hills above Kilmacolm.
02/02/1959Greenock and Ayrshire Railway
Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] to Kilmacolm (excluded) closed to passengers. The line is retained for specials and boat trains but is singled.
14/02/1966Greenock and Ayrshire Railway
Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] to Kilmacolm (excluded) closed to Ocean Liner Boat Trains.
26/09/1966Greenock and Ayrshire Railway
Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] to Kilmacolm (excluded) closed to freight. A single track from Greenock Princes Pier [2nd] to Cartsburn Junction is retained for reinstatement.
08/01/1983Greenock and Ayrshire Railway
Kilmacolm line closed completely from Kilmacolm to Elderslie Junction (excluded).

News items

11/06/2023Kilmacolm property: Home remodelled from station cottages up for sale [Greenock Telegraph]
06/06/2023New book reveals that 'railway poet' William Aitken lived in Inverclyde [Greenock Telegraph]
07/10/2022Kilmacolm pub awarded best gastro pub in Scotland [Greenock Telegraph]
05/10/2022Bridge of Weir set for 39 new homes as council refusal overturned on appeal [Daily Record]
03/11/2021New homes bid could kill Kilmacolm railway hopes [Greenock Telegraph]
21/10/2021New houses could wreck hopes of reviving old railway [STV]
26/10/2020Inverclyde councillor in campaign to resurrect Kilmacolm's railway [Greenock Telegraph]

Books


Legends of the Glasgow and South Western Railway in the L.M.S.Days

Scotland’s Lost Branch Lines: Where Beeching Got It Wrong

The Glasgow & South Western Railway a History