Kilmarnock and Troon Railway

Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
Overview
LocaleScotland
Dates of operation6 July 1812–16 July 1899
SuccessorGlasgow and South Western Railway
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Previous gauge4 ft (1,219 mm) &
3 ft 4 in (1,016 mm)
Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock
(original)
St Marnock Depot
Riccarton and Craigie
Gatehead
Laigh Milton Viaduct
(on closed line)
Drybridge
Barassie
Barassie Junction
Troon Harbour
Troon (new)
(Troon Loop Line)
Troon (old)
(GPK&AR)
Lochgreen Junction

The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was an early railway line in Ayrshire, Scotland. It was constructed to bring coal from pits around Kilmarnock to coastal shipping at Troon Harbour, and passengers were carried.

It opened in 1812, and was the first railway in Scotland to obtain an authorising act of Parliament; it would soon also become the first railway in Scotland to use a steam locomotive; the first to carry passengers; and the River Irvine bridge, Laigh Milton Viaduct, is the earliest railway viaduct in Scotland. It was a plateway, using L-shaped iron plates as rails, to carry wagons with flangeless wheels.

In 1841, when more modern railways had developed throughout the West of Scotland, the line was converted from a plateway to a railway and realigned in places. The line became part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway system. Much of the original route is part of the present-day Kilmarnock to Barassie railway line, although the extremities of the original line have been lost.