Ayr [1st]

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Ayr [1st] (1839-1857)

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

Opened on the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway.

Description

This was a terminus of the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway. The station was on the north bank of the River Ayr and close to the river.

Behind the station building (ticket office and waiting room below, accommodation above), on Darlington Road (now North Harbour Street), the station had a trainshed which was 160 ft long and 42 ft broad with 17 ornamented cast iron columns. Within the shed were two platforms, one on either side.

There were four other sheds;
- goods shed with two cranes
- engine shed
- two carriage sheds
and also
- a coke and goods store (above) with weighing house
- smithy and fitting up shop with small high pressure 6 HP stationary engine by Stark & Fulton for pumping the water and working the turnplates. There were nine of these for taking an engine or a carriage from one part of the depot to another, or for changing them to another line of rails
- a loading bank, 240 feet long
- a water tank, 12x12 ft and 4 ft deep for the engines, filled by the engine
- two porters' lodges

A later goods line continued on a viaduct over the river to a position on the mouth of the river close to Ayr Harbour.

The station was replaced by Ayr Townhead (quickly renamed Ayr [2nd] and became a goods station, the terminus building and train shed being replaced be a goods shed. The site was fairly hemmed in and did not allow convenient extension south. The replacement station was on the Ayr and Dalmellington Railway which skirted what was then the eastern edge of the town.

Little remains today, the station site having been redeveloped for housing and light industrial use.

Sometimes referred to as Ayr Old.

Tags

Terminus station

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map


News items

29/06/2023Ayr: Limekiln Road Bridge infill plans move forward [Ayr Advertiser]