Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway

The little harbour at Portpatrick was the starting point for the short sea route from Scotland to the north of Ireland as early as 1620, connecting with Donaghadee in County Down, on the east side of Belfast Lough. Cattle and horses were an important traffic, raised in Ireland and brought into Scotland for butchery, and later Post Office mails became significant: by 1838 8,000 to 10,000 letters passed through the port daily, brought by road coach from Dumfries, and from Glasgow. A barracks was erected in the town to facilitate troop movements between Britain and Ireland. However the limitations of the little harbour became serious disadvantages as other more efficient rail-connected routes, via Liverpool, and later Holyhead became dominant.[1]

While English destinations via Dumfries and Carlisle were dominant, Glasgow and Central Scotland were obviously significant, and when the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) reached Ayr in 1840 it was natural to consider whether an extension to Portpatrick, 60 miles (96 km) away, was feasible. In 1843 a Glasgow and Belfast Union Railway was proposed to achieve the connection, but the plan foundered.

By 1853 the GPK&AR had amalgamated with others to form the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR), which encouraged the promotion of the Ayr and Maybole Junction Railway which got its authorising Act of Parliament on 10 July 1854 and opened on 13 October 1856. The line was worked by the G&SWR.

The next extension was the Maybole and Girvan Railway which was authorised on 14 July 1856 and opened on 24 May 1860. It too was worked by the G&SWR, and absorbed by it in 1865. (The Ayr and Maybole line remained independent until 1912.)

Now the Portpatrick Railway was opened between Castle Douglas and Stranraer on 11 March 1861. At Castle Douglas it made connection with other railways giving access to Dumfries and Carlisle, and therefore points in England, as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh by a roundabout route. The Portpatrick Railway, true to its name, had definite intentions to extend from Stranraer to Portpatrick, and did so the following year.[2]

System map of the Glasgow and Portpatrick Junction Railway

These developments encouraged serious consideration of a railway to Portpatrick, although the challenging terrain was a deterrent. However, on 13 November 1862 a prospectus was issued for the Girvan Stranraer & North of Ireland Junction Railway, which was to leave the Maybole and Girvan line 1½ miles (2 km) north of Girvan and join the Portpatrick Railway at Challoch, 10½ miles (17 km) east of Stranraer, taking an inland course between. This scheme did not progress further, but the Girvan & Portpatrick Junction Railway (G&PJR) obtained an authorising Act on 5 July 1865 to follow the same course as the earlier proposed line, except leaving the Maybole and Girvan line immediately north of Girvan station. Capital was to be £250,000.

At this time money became scarce and subscriptions to the proposed railway were inadequate; nothing could be done for some years until in 1870 matters eased somewhat, and a contractor, Abraham Pilling of Bolton, undertook to build the line, accepting payment in shares. The civil engineering works were severe, with several significant viaducts and a tunnel being required on the route. Seemingly as an afterthought, the G&PJR applied for running powers between the proposed junction at Challoch and Stranraer; these were ratified by Act of Parliament of 6 August 1872. This required the G&PJR to shoulder their share of the costs of the jointly used section of railway, and of harbour facilities at Stranraer and at first the Portpatrick Railway, struggling to make ends meet, considered this to be a welcome arrangement.

Pilling too was struggling financially to continue his works due to a trade boom which made wages and materials prices escalate. The G&PJR treated this sympathetically and raised some additional cash to assist him. The struggle took a disastrous turn during stormy conditions on the night of 26 September 1875, when the Stinchar viaduct was completely swept away and several other viaducts and works were substantially damaged.

Once again the Company rescued Pilling financially, and the construction work continued.[2]

Now that completion of the construction phase was in sight, the Board gave consideration to the working of the line. The G&SWR were approached and agreed to do so for 75% of gross receipts; this figure was thought excessive and talks were opened with Thomas Wheatley, who was successfully working the Wigtownshire Railway. Wheatley advised them to procure rolling stock and work the line themselves, but the Directors did not feel confident in that arrangement, so they approached the Caledonian Railway (CR), which was working the Portpatrick Railway. The CR was losing money on the Portpatrick Railway work and politely declined, assuming that the G&PJR would turn back to Wheatley. However this course was not developed and the G&PJR concluded an agreement with the G&SWR to work their line. The CR were alarmed at this: Wheatley, as a small-time independent was not a threat: the G&SWR were a deadly rival.

In 1877 the CR, in effective possession of the Portpatrick Railway, put every possible obstruction in the way of completion of the G&PJR, which needed the junction at Challoch, extensions and improvements at Stranraer, and signalling improvements between those places. Nonetheless the G&PJR line was ready and on 1 October 1877 a trial run was undertaken. At Challoch the special train was prevented from proceeding towards Stranraer, and distinguished guests there expecting to join the train had to be brought to it by road. A second attempt was made in the afternoon and this time the special got through—a banquet awaited them at Stranraer.[2]

The Board of Trade Inspecting Officer had approved the line during his inspection on 24 July 1877, and the G&PJR had started a sporadic goods service between Girvan and New Luce. From 19 September a passenger service—two trains daily—started between New Luce and Girvan. Because the original Maybole and Girvan Railway station at Girvan had been by-passed by the new line, a crude platform was erected on the G&PJR line; it was called Girvan New and the terminus was Girvan Old. This was much less convenient to the town, and was the subject of criticism locally.

On 5 October 1877 a normal public train service started, between Girvan and Stranraer. Four trains ran over the line daily: the fragmented ownership of the route did not need to be respected by the G&SWR, working the whole line. The first southbound and last northbound were expresses, calling only at Ayr, Girvan New, Pinwherry (southbound only) and Dunragit stations, and running to and from the East Pier at Stranraer (described as Stranraer Harbour). Some of the stopping trains may have called at both Girvan Old and New stations; they had to reverse between Girvan Old station and the point of junction of the lines, calling also at Girvan New. It may be that the trains ran only between Girvan New and Stranraer, with road connection between the two stations there.[2]

The G&PJR was responsible for rental payments to the Portpatrick Railway, calculated on the interest on the original capital cost of construction of their part of that line that they used. The G&PJR was in desperate financial straits: at the shareholders' meeting on 30 April 1878 it was reported that the working arrangement with the G&SWR took over 90% of gross receipts.[2] In 1880 receipts were £16,031 while working expenses were £24,013.[3] The G&PJR failed to pay the PPR, and the Portpatrick Company, in difficult circumstances itself, went to arbitration in 1880; the arbitrator was Sir Thomas Bouch, engineer of the first Tay Bridge, which had collapsed on 28 December 1879, an event known as the Tay Bridge disaster, in which 59 persons perished. Bouch had no difficulty in finding in favour of the Portpatrick Railway's case; the G&PJR lacking the cash to comply, held out.

Since 3 July 1879 the Company's affairs had been in the hands of a judicial factor, James Haldane, appointed by the Court of Session. On 31 January 1881 he gave notice to the G&SWR to terminate the working agreement, considered to be the greatest source of the G&PJR's financial problems. However no-one offered a better arrangement, and Haldane was obliged to request the G&SWR to continue the working from month to month on the same basis as before. In any case this was all too late: the Portpatrick Railway took the matter to the Court of Session, which also found in their favour on 1 February 1881. The matter had dragged on that far. From 7 February 1882 G&PJR trains were not allowed on to the Portpatrick Railway. The G&PJR now ran only as far as New Luce, and conveyed passengers and goods to and from Stranraer by road. 2-4-0 locomotive no. 59 operated the service, running tender first half of the time. The service used Girvan Old station, and the New station was temporarily closed.

Struggling on, the G&PJR obtained authorisation to borrow more money, and the G&SWR was persuaded to mitigate its working charges somewhat; the new arrangement provided a hierarchy of destinations for available income, of which the lowest was "distribution to G&PJR shareholders". A fresh Act was passed on 18 August 1882 authorising the raising another £30,000 of capital. £20,000 of this was subscribed by the G&SWR. By September 1883 the G&PJR had paid nearly all of the outstanding debt (£12,283), and were permitted to resume running to Stranraer. This actually started on 1 August 1883; the trains used the Old station only at Girvan, except the boat trains which used the New station only.

The Company's fortunes revived with this arrangement, and at a shareholders' meeting on 31 October 1884 a 1% dividend to Class A Debenture Stock holders was announced.[2]

In 1885 the G&SWR was negotiating to become a part owner of the Portpatrick Railway, giving them their own access to Stranraer. Feeling that the G&PJR was weaker, the G&SWR gave six months notice of termination of the working agreement, and the withdrawal of the £20,00 subscribed under the 1882 Act. That Act gave the lending companies the power to sell the G&PJR in the event of a default. In self-defence the G&PJR presented a Parliamentary Bill to repeal that power and to borrow further capital; it also sought running powers over the G&SWR north of Girvan in the hope of connecting with the rival Caledonian Railway. The Bill became an Act on 13 April 1886 but without the running powers.

On 12 April 1886 the G&SWR ceased to operate the line, and for a second time it was unable to operate a train service. By now W T Wheatley, son of Thomas Wheatley, was General Manager of the line, and it fell to him to make working arrangements. He immediately ordered two 0-6-0 locomotives to be built new, and to cover while they were constructed, he acquired three second hand 4-4-0 engines and passenger and goods vehicles from the North London Railway (NLR). £3,600 was paid, with additional money for repairs to the stock carried out by the NLR. By this means Wheatley resumed a train service on 14 June 1886, running everything except the boat train expresses. The NLR engines arrived with condensing apparatus fitted, from their former use in London, and did not have a continuous brake.

Smith illustrates the disparity of the equipment's origin:

[Driver] Bob Scott ran the Paddy [the boat train express for the Irish ferry] with his old North London tank and its train of chain-braked coaches. I wonder who in Bow Works ever imagined that their prosaic suburban tank engine would one day run a boat express over a Scottish moor?[4]

The G&SWR would not allow G&PJR passenger trains to use Girvan (Old) station at first, so the trains terminated at the New station and passengers transferred between the two. From 2 September 1886 this policy was reversed, and the trains used the Old station, reversing to and from the junction, and the New station fell into disuse, except by occasional excursion trains.

In November 1886 the two 0-6- locomotives were delivered from the Neilson and Company factory, and the overstretched locomotive fleet was relieved.[2]

If the G&PJR was surviving operationally, its financial situation was plainly desperate, and in financial circles it was clear that a change of ownership was imminent. In the event the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Railway Company was the successful bidder; the Company was formed specially for the purpose by Act of Parliament of 23 May 1887. The actual takeover took place on 1 August 1887.

The G&PJR was authorised to borrow £10,000 for repair works on Pinmore Tunnel and the Stinchar Viaduct and for other expenses prior to the transfer. The sale price was £166,500; the G&PJR had cost £532,000 to build. In May 1887 two new 0-6-0 tender engines were delivered, emblazoned with the A&WR lettering, having been obtained new from the Clyde Locomotive Company. The new locomotives enabled a morning and evening Stranraer express to be put on in each direction, from 1 June 1887.

Nonetheless the financial performance of the little company was poor; internal traffic was very limited and steamship competition, and the attitude of the G&SWR, affected external business. The A&WR paid some limited dividends, but it was a struggle, and the rolling stock fleet, and particularly the track, was showing signs of wear, and it became public knowledge that the A&WR proprietors would consider selling their concern.[2]

In 1892 the G&SWR took an interest in acquiring the company, possibly motivated by fears of the Caledonian Railway taking an interest. The G&SWR took over the working on 2 February 1892 and acquisition of the A&WR was ratified by Act of 20 June 1892. The G&SWR paid £270,000.[2]

Corridor stock was introduced on the boat trains in 1899.[5]

In G&SWR days the Manson tablet exchange apparatus had been installed on the line, enabling faster transits through crossing stations. In 1923 the main line railways of Great Britain were "grouped" and the line formed part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The LMS discontinued the use of the Manson apparatus, "as so many locomotives would now need the exchange device to be fitted".

The LMS restored the "Daylight Service" between Larne and Stranraer, and in 1925 LNW 42-ton dining cars were added to the connecting trains, 12.25 p.m. from Stranraer and 3.55 p.m. from Glasgow.[6]

The first Sunday excursion from Glasgow to Portpatrick was run in June 1927.[5][7]

As train loads increased substantially in this period, the short length of the crossing points on the line became a severe limitation: 8 vehicle trains could be crossed at Barrhill, and 9 at Pinwherry and New Luce. A second platform was constructed at Glenwhilly, enabling 12 vehicle trains to be crossed there. During World War II other loops were extended to cope with the heavy traffic.

Locomotive power was also an issue. The turntable at Stranraer was 50 feet (15 m) which had long restricted engine types on this difficult route. The Hughes 2-6-0s had been brought in and found advantageous, but Smith records:

"At the end of March 1939 there came momentous news—official sanction for a 60 ft [18 m]; 4-6-0s to work to Stranraer."

"On 23 March 1939 a trial run was made with a 4-6-0, with the locomotive and tender separated at Stranraer to turn them. There was no prospect of the 60 ft turntable being ready before late summer, so they laid longer rails, projecting at each end, on the existing 50 ft turntable. This allowed them to turn a Class 5 4-6-0. The class 5s began to work from Glasgow to Stranraer on 16 April 1939."

It was about October that the new 60 ft turntable was ready at Stranraer. Class 5X 4-6-0s were drafted in, and were the mainstay of the Stranraer road throughout the war.[8]

Diesel multiple units were introduced on passenger trains from November 1959, but they reverted to locomotive haulage in the period 1984 to 1987. From October 1988, Super Sprinter diesel units were in use.[5]