Brackenhills railway station

Brackenhills
Remains of the station platform in 2010
Location
Place	Near Beith
Area	Ayrshire
Coordinates	55°43′57″N 4°39′01″W / 55.7325°N 4.6502°WCoordinates: 55°43′57″N 4°39′01″W / 55.7325°N 4.6502°W
Grid reference	NS336519
Operations
Original company	Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Platforms	1
History
1 September 1906	Opened[1]
1 December 1930	Closed[1]
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Brackenhills railway station was a railway station approximately one mile south-west of the town of Beith, close to Barkip, North Ayrshire, Scotland, part of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway.

History

The station opened on 1 September 1906 on the branch to Kilbirnie.^[1] The station closed on 1 December 1930.^[1]

Today the station platform still exists though it is overgrown and in very poor condition. The stationmaster's house is now a private residence.

The 1858 Ordnance Survey (OS) shows a 'weighing machine' at what was eventually to become Brackenhills railway station, related to the Hillhead Railway to Broadstone limestone quarry, the exchange and offloading bay for which were nearby. Many other ironstone and limestone also quarries existed in the immediate area. The 1897 OS map shows a 'Brackenhills Siding' at the site and the station is shown on the 1920s map.

• 
  The nearby railway bridge over the Powgree Burn in the Kersland Glen.
• 
  The old railway cutting running from Brackenhills into the Kersland Glen.
• 
  An exposed portion of the old loading dock in the goods yard area.

Services

A shuttle service ran via this station on the way to Giffen from Kilbirnie and back, with around nine return journeys per day during the week and an extra two on Saturdays.^[2] In 1912 the local paper reported that 16 trains per day ran to Ardrossan and Glasgow Central station from Brackenhills.^[3]

Freight

The LMS appendix records^[4] that

Brackenhills Station siding. - This siding may be worked by trains proceeding from Giffen towards Kilbirnie (South), and during shunting operations the points must be set for the siding and remain in that position until the work is completed.
This siding may also be worked by trains not exceeding 12 wagons and brake van coming from Glengarnock (High) and proceeding towards Giffen. In such cases the train must be taken in side the sidings, and no vehicle is to be left on the main branch line. The station master at Brackenhills must inform the signalman at Glengarnock (High) by telegraph when there is traffic to lift and the train must be signalled in accordance with Train Tablet Regulation 8.

References

Notes

1. Butt, page 41
2. Stansfield, p. 28
3. Reid, Donald L. & Monahan, Isobel F. (1999). Yesterday's Beith. A Pictorial Guide. Beith : Duke of Edinburgh Award. ISBN 0-9522720-5-9. P. 84
4. LMS Appendix

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• LMS Appendix
• Stansfield, G. (1999). Ayrshire & Renfrewshire's Lost Railways. Ochiltree: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1-8403-3077-5.
• Brackenhills station on navigable OS map