Kilmacolm railway station 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 ...

serving the village of

Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and Civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on th ...

, in the current

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Ac ...

Inverclyde Inverclyde (, , , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...

and the historic county of

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

in the West-

Central Lowlands The Central Lowlands, sometimes called the Midland Valley or Central Valley, is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland. It consists of a rift valley between the Highland Boundary Fault to the north and ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was originally part of the

Greenock and Ayrshire Railway The Greenock and Ayrshire Railway ran from Greenock, Scotland to Bridge of Weir, connecting there to the Glasgow and South Western Railway and making a through connection between Glasgow and Greenock. It closed progressively between 1959 and 19 ...

, later a line of 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 ...

. The station was opened in 1869. Services west to Greenock were discontinued in 1959 and services to the east and into Glasgow ended in 1983 when the station was closed.

History

The station was opened by the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway Company on 23 December 1869, as Kilmacolm; however, on 1 December 1904, it was renamed Kilmacolm G&SW.Butt (1995), p. 133 The station was largely rebuilt in 1907.Wham, Route C The main traffic was for commuters from this affluent village to Glasgow and Paisley. It was said that the early train was for the "strivers", the second train, which would arrive in time to reach city centre offices by about 9am, for the "thrivers" and the third train – for the company directors, senior stockbrokers etc. – the "drivers". On 2 February 1959, stopping passenger services from Glasgow and Paisley ceased running beyond Kilmacolm; however, the Glasgow St Enoch to Greenock Prince's Pier

Ocean Liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat train ...

s continued running, without stopping, through the station until 30 November 1965.Thomas

Closure

The station and the rest of the line were closed on 10 January 1983. Discussions around closure had gained pace in the late 1970s with

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

serving notice in 1980 that the station would close. This led to extensive campaigning against the closure which continued to the end of 1982, involving politicians, community groups and trade unions.

Current and future use

The former site of the station is now occupied by a

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

– originally opened as "The Pullman" tavern in the mid-1990s, it renamed to "Carriages" in 2019 following a management takeover and refurbishment. The former railway line serving Kilmacolm station has been converted into a

cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...

, and is now part of the Clyde to Forth cycle route (

National Cycle Route The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million ...

75). The route of the line has been preserved, and has been confirmed by

SPT SPT may refer to: Organisations * Society for Philosophy and Technology * Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Scotland * Sunpentown, a Taiwanese appliance manufacturer Science and technology * Septic pelvic thrombophlebitis, a postpartum co ...

to be available for use again should future redevelopment of the line be considered.

Gallery

Image:Kilmacolm 2 9 73 1.jpg, Kilmacolm station in 1973. Image:Kilmacolm railway station.jpg, Kilmacolm station building in 1979.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Wham-SouthGlasgow Disused railway stations in Inverclyde Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1869 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1983 Former Glasgow and South Western Railway stations 1869 establishments in Scotland