Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway (G&PJR) was a railway company in Scotland. It opened in 1877 between Girvan and Challoch Junction, where it joined the Portpatrick Railway, which had already reached Stranraer from Castle Douglas. Portpatrick had been an important ferry terminal for traffic to and from the north of Ireland, but its significance was waning and Stranraer assumed greater importance. The new line formed part of a route between Glasgow, Ayr and Stranraer.
Running through difficult and sparsely populated terrain, the G&PJR was never financially successful, and on two occasions it had to suspend operations to due unpaid debts to adjacent railway companies. In 1887 the Company sold its concern at a huge loss to the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Railway Company (A&WR), formed specially for the purpose. The A&WR hardly performed better, and in turn it sold its business to the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in 1892.
The line remains in operation at the present day, forming part of the Glasgow to Stranraer route.