Location type

Names and dates

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

Description

Coal mine. Operation may have started in 1956 (DL Smith.). It was built alongside the original Burnton Washer. To the immediate west is the former site of Craigmark mining village. To the south is the later village of Burnton.

The Burnton Washer was in the east of the site and a narrow gauge connected north to Chalmerston No 4,5 Collieries.

The railway at Minnivey was notable for its continued use of steam locomotives long after these ceased on British Rail lines. As a result it was popular with enthusiasts and photographers. The line from Dunaskin to Minnivey and on to Pennyvenie was the rump of the Dalmellington Iron Company's extensive network of privately owned lines.

Minnivey closed in 1975/6 and the railway fell out of use in 1978 with the closure of pit no 7 at Pennyvenie Colliery Nos 2, 3, 7.

With the closure the line started to be lifted (around 1980) from the connection with British Railways at Dunaskin (excluded) south eastwards to Minnivey.

At the same time, the site was leased by the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group from 1980, hoping to preserve something of Scotland (and Ayrshire's) industrial past, being the Scottish Industrial Railway Centre with a locomotive shed and workshops. A collection of locomotives and exhibits was assembled.

With the end of opencast loading at Dunaskin in 1986 the future of the whole line from Dalrymple was in doubt, however in 1988 opencast activities began at Chalmerston and the railway was relaid from Dunaskin to Chalmerston Loading Pad with a loop, just shy of the remaining Minnivey line. A connection was later laid in, which proved useful when assistance was required on the coal line.

A new station and loop were built at Minnivey and preserved brakevan trains were able to run south east from this some way up the line to Pennyvenie, much of the line beyond Minnivey becoming overgrown. It was hoped that a passenger service from Minnivey to Dunaskin Platform could be introduced linking the former iron works site to the former coal mine.

In 2002 difficulties with the site lease led to the decision to lease a site at the former Dalmellington Iron Works and move the collection there. This site is perhaps less remote and with the considerable remains there is better suited.

Much remains at Minnivey, tracks and buildings, but in increasingly derelict condition. With the decline in coal fired power stations the neighbouring Chalmerston site is out of use and the whole line to Dalrymple Junction, with the exception of a portion at Dunaskin, is out of use. Track exists the entire way from Dalrymple Junction to Pennyvenie, just north of Dalmellington, waiting for an imaginative use.

Local

Scottish Industrial Railway Centre

Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group

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