Ayr and Maybole Junction Railway
The Ayr and Maybole Junction Railway (A&MJR) was a railway in Ayrshire, Scotland that provided services between Ayr and Maybole. It opened in 1856 and was seen as a link in providing a through line between Glasgow and Portpatrick, then the ferry port for the north of Ireland. Although a short line it succeeded in achieving profitability, eventually being absorbed on generous terms by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The line is still in use today as part of the Glasgow South Western Line. History False starts The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) was opened as far as Ayr in 1840, but its Ayr station was on the north bank of the River Ayr. (The GPK&AR was a predecessor company of the Glasgow and South Western Railway.) At this early date, thought was given to reaching Portpatrick, which was the port for a short sea route ferry service to Donaghadee in the north of Ireland. For a time the GPK&AR had other priorities, but during the frenzy of railway schemes that arose in 1845, a Glasgow and Belfast Union Railway (G&BUR) was promoted; it was supported by the GPK&AR, and its parliamentary costs were partly funded by that company. Portpatrick seemed to be an important destination for a line, although there was much wild and difficult territory to be crossed to get there: in the same year the British and Irish Union Railway (B&IUR), an independent concern, was proposed to run from Dumfries via Castle Douglas to Portpatrick. The G&BUR was to run by way of Patna, and a third line was proposed to cross the wild country of Galloway, the Ayrshire and Galloway Railway (A&GR); it would form a junction with the G&BUR at Smithston, near Patna, and run through Dalmellington to Castle Douglas, there linking with the British and Irish Union Railway. The frenzy of railway schemes lasted for a while but then the bubble burst in 1846, and ambitious and expensive proposals found that they could not get the financial support they needed. The B&IUR announced that it was not proceeding on 21 April 1846, and the A&GR scheme was cut back drastically, to run from Smithston to Dalmellington only, a tiny fraction of its intended extent. It was to have running powers over the G&BUR to reach Ayr. The G&BUR was authorised in the face of grave financial difficulty, and when the shareholders considered the reality of the situation, the decision was taken not to proceed with construction, and the expensively-won powers were allowed to lapse. The A&GR scheme had been heavily cut back in Parliament, and with the G&BUR now dormant, it was unable to connect to Ayr, so the promoters put forward a revised scheme in the next Parliamentary session. It won approval and the Ayrshire and Galloway (Smithstown & Dalmellington) Railway received the Royal Assent on 8 June 1847. It would connect with the GPK&AR at Falkland Junction, a short distance north of their terminal station on the north shore