Clickable Schematic of route
[Key]
Cairn Point Harbour.
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The line runs up the east coast of Loch Ryan. The area is farmed and has caravan park dotted along the coastline. After the Second World War the port was used for weapons disposal. After 1959 the military closed the port and it became used as a ship scrapyard, noteably in the 1970s HMS Ark Royal, the aircraft carrier, was scrapped here.
Today the jetties at Cairn Point are derelict and the Cairnryan has become a ferry port for Larne in Ireland.
For 6.25 miles from Cairnryan Junction to Cairnryan. Much of the route of the line has been landscaped. Stations were not properly established and passengers could be set down where-ever necessary.
The Cairnryan Military Port and Cairnryan Military Railway were built between 1941 and 1943 to provide extra dock space during the second world war. This space would be needed if the Glasgow and Liverpool docks were severely bombed. Cairnryan was "Military Port number 2" and Faslane was "Military Port number 1".
From
the east facing junction at Cairnryan Junction the line swung north. For more
information about the junction and marshaling yard see the Portpatrick
Railway entry.
| Cairnryan Junction Yard | |
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At Cairnryan Junction Yard the line had marshaling
sidings (10 roads). There had been a large water-tank by the sidings for locomotives.
| London Road |
Opened:1943 Closed:1959
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Where the line crossed the A75 there was London Road station. This was used as a station for Stranraer for internal passenger trains on the line.
| Innermessan | |
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Further north was Innermessan where there were shipyard and workshops sidings which ran off a north facing junction. The site is now a caravan park.
| Leffnoll | |
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At Leffnoll there was a three road engine shed and marshaling yard off a north facing junction. The yard was capable of holding 2000 wagons.
| Cairnryan | |
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At Cairnryan there was a lighterage wharf, now the ferry port for Larne. This was served from sidings from a south facing junction. This was the south end of the deep wharfage harbour.
| Cairn point |
Opened:1943 Closed:1959
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There was a passenger station at Cairn Point
by the main military harbour (two deep water wharfs, north and south of the
point).
| Old House Point | |
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Track continued a little further north from Cairn Point to Old House Point where there were further sidings and an engine shed.
| A Regional History of the Railways of
Great Britain Volume 6; Scotland; The Lowlands and the Borders. |
J Thomas | ISBN 0 946537 12 7 |
| Landranger Map 82 | Ordnance Survey | ISBN 0 319 22082 6 |
| Legends of the Glasgow and South Western Railway in LMS Days | DL Smith | ISBN 0 7153 7981 X |
| LMS Engine Sheds Vol 7; The Glasgow and South Western Railway |
C Hawkins, G Reeve and J Stevenson | ISBN 1 871608 10 4 |
| National Atlas Showing Canals, Navigable
Rivers, Mineral Tramroads, Railways and Street Tramways Volume 1b; Southern Scotland |
GL Crowther | ISBN 1 85615 212 X |
| The Railways of Scotland Vol 12 | CineRail |