Kirtlebridge

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Kirtlebridge (1847-1960)

Opened on the Caledonian Railway.
Opened on the Solway Junction Railway.

Description

This was a small two platform station until the opening of the Solway Junction Railway in 1869. Reconstruction created a junction station. The station closed in 1960.

The station was half a mile west of Kirtlebridge itself closer to modern day Eaglesfield. The site was surrounded by former limestone quarries.

The station was originally two platforms with a small goods yard on the west side of the line, approached by reversal from the station.

After rebuilding it was a large station with many sidings. There were three platforms, two on the main line and the northbound an island having a second face for the Solway line trains. To the north of this was a locomotive shed (Kirtlebridge Shed) with sidings on the west side. Alongside the branch were sidings served from the north. The goods yard was on the east side of the main line, south of the station and served from the south.

The main station building was on the southbound mainline platform, with a large goods shed just to the south.

There were three signal boxes at the station. Kirtlebridge Junction North (by the junction), Kirtlebridge Junction south (on the main line to the south) and Kirtlebridge Brick Works Signal Box (on the branch). These were replaced with Kirtlebridge Junction box, on the island platform, in 1880.

Tramways served remaining limestone quarries. One of these crossed both main and branch lines south of the station.

A goods line ran south with the branch, on its east side, to Bonshaw Tile Works.

The branch south over the Solway Viaduct closed in 1921, cut back to Annan Shawhill. The line south of Kirtlebridge closed in 1931 (goods after 1939, save for access to a Second World War airfield RAF Annan). Mossfoot Ammunition Depot (MOD) was established here on the west side of the branch, served by a complex of sidings. This portion survived until the 1960s. By closure a number of banks had been erected at regular intervals between the junction and the site of Corsehill Quarry.

The station survived until 1960 when it closed along with most of the stations served by the stopping service on the main line.

The box closed in 1971, taken over by Lockerbie.

Little remains of the station today. The junction site is crossed over by the A74(M). The station site is a small industrial estate. Some former railway cottages remain nearby.

The Kirtlebridge Viaduct is to the south east.

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
NLS Map
01/10/2019


Chronology Dates

  /  /1864Solway Junction Railway
Act receives Royal assent for a line consisting to two parts: Kirtlebridge (Caledonian Railway) to Kirkbride Junction (Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock) and Abbeyholme Junction (Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock) to Brayton (Maryport and Carlisle Railway). The first part will cross the considerable Solway Viaduct between Scotland an England. The Act included an Annan Waterfoot Branch and a Port Carlisle Branch both of which were not built.
13/09/1869Solway Junction Railway
Kirtlebridge to Annan (Shawhill) opened for goods.
08/03/1870Solway Junction Railway
Kirtlebridge to Annan (Shawhill) opened for passengers.
09/09/1873Solway Junction Railway
The portion of the line from Kirtlebridge to Annan Shawhill is transferred to the Caledonian Railway.
27/04/1931Solway Junction Railway
Annan Shawhill to Kirtlebridge closed to goods.
13/06/1960Caledonian Railway
Wamphray, Dinwoodie, Nethercleugh, Ecclefechan, Kirtlebridge, Kirkpatrick closed to passengers. Nethercleugh and Dinwoodie closed to goods.

News items

05/07/2021Government agency is burying historic bridges in concrete right across the country [Daily Mail]

Books


An Illustrated History of Carlisle's Railways

Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Caledonian Dunalastairs and Associated Classes (Locomotive Monograph)

Caledonian in LMS Days (Railways in Retrospect)

Caledonian Railway

Caledonian Railway Carriages

Caledonian Railway Livery: The True Line Elegance and Style

Caledonian Railway Wagons & Non-Passenger Coaching Stock

Caledonian Routes 3: Stirling to Crianlarich - DVD - Oakwood Press

Caley to the Coast: Rothesay by Wemyss Bay (Oakwood Library of Railway History)

Callander & Oban Railway Through Time

Callander and Oban Railway (Library of Railway History)

Carlisle To Beattock: including the Dumfries Branch (Scottish Main Lines)

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Signalling the Caledonian Railway

The Caledonian Railway 'jumbos' the 18in. X 26in. 0-6-0s

The Caledonian, Scotland's Imperial Railway: A History

The Vanished Railways of Old Western Dunbartonshire (Britains Railways/Old Photos)

Through Scotland with the Caledonian Railway

Vanished Railways of West Lothian