Drumclog (NS 63889 38645) was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the Darvel and Strathaven Railway serving a rural area that included the village of

Drumclog Drumclog is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Parish of Avendale and Drumclog, Scotland. The settlement is situated on the A71, between Caldermill and Priestland in East Ayrshire at an elevation of and about west of Strathaven. History ...

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

, Scotland.

History

On 4 July 1905, the line opened, thereby connecting the Darvel Branch that ran from

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, resulting in the line becoming a through route to

Strathaven Strathaven ( ; from ) is a historic market town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland and is the largest settlement in Avondale. It is south of Hamilton. The Powmillon Burn runs through the town centre, and joins the Avon Water to the east of the to ...

which was a line jointly run between the

Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was the third biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle, Cumbria, Ca ...

(G&SWR) and the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...

(CR). The CR owned the Loudounhill to Strathaven section and the G&SWR owned the section from Loudounhill to Darvel and beyondWham, page 47 Despite being in theory a through route, no trains ran between Kilmarnock and Strathaven;Stansfield, page 20 instead, the two companies took it in turns to run the line between Darvel and Strathaven every six months. Stations were also located at Ryeland and Loudounhill. The line was never successful and closed in 1939 and the track lifted in 1951. The station had a signal box on the platform and a wooden waiting room and ticket office. The station had an island platform and a footbridge gave passengers access. Several sidings with a goods yard and loading dock were present. In 1938 the station was used to stable the royal train when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were on a visit to an event in Glasgow.Drumclog Memorial Kirk Centenary DVD. John Hastie Museum The Drumclog Memorial Kirk used the station to transport Sunday School children on annual outings except for during WWI when the line station was closed. The nominal junction between the

and the

was at the county boundary at Loudounhill Station. The closed line was used to store hundreds of damaged railway waggons that were awaiting repair. The line had been intended as a through route between Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, however there was very little traffic along the route as the population in the area was very low. The station was closed from September until November 1909 and then again from January 1917 until December 1922. As stated, the last train ran on 10 September 1939, however the official closing date was two weeks later. The buildings were sold off to private buyers and are still standing today as cottages. A photograph can be found at this site.Canmore : Drumclog railway station
/ref>

Other stations

* Ryeland * Loudounhill

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * Sellar, W.S. & Stevenston, J. L. (1981). ''The Last Trains. (3) South-West Scotland.'' Edinburgh : Moorfoot Publishing. . * Stansfield, Gordon (1997). ''Lanarkshire's Lost Railways.'' Ochiltree : Stenlake. . * Stansfield, Gordon (1999). ''Ayrshire & Renfrewshire's Lost Railways.'' Ochiltree : Stenlake. . * Thomas, John (1971). ''A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. V.6, Scotland''. David & Charles : Newton Abbot. .

Previous and next stations

{{Historical Scottish railway companies Disused railway stations in South Lanarkshire Former Caledonian Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1909 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1909 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1922 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1939