Gatehead railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

serving the village of

Gatehead The village or hamlet of Gatehead is located in East Ayrshire, Parish of Kilmaurs, Scotland. It is one and a quarter miles from Crosshouse and one and a half miles from Kilmarnock. In the 18th and 19th centuries the locality was a busy coal mining ...

, East Ayrshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

The station was opened on 6 July 1812 by the

Kilmarnock and Troon Railway The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was an early railway line in Ayrshire, Scotland. It was constructed to bring coal from pits around Kilmarnock to coastal shipping at Troon Harbour, and passengers were carried. It opened in 1812, and was the f ...

.Butt (1995), page 101 The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway took over management of the station (and its line) on 16 July 1846, while its successor, the

Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was a railway company in Scotland. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle. It was formed on 28 October 1850 by the merger of two earlier railway ...

, took over full ownership in 1899.Stansfield, p. 8 8 The station closed on 3 March 1969. Gateheadcoal1

Today Gatehead station has a single platform intact (although overgrown). The line is still open as part of the

Glasgow South Western Line The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride. History The line was built by several railway compan ...

and the station's

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

is still in use, allowing road traffic on the A759 to cross the line. Laigh Milton Viaduct, Scotland's oldest railway viaduct, is nearby, but not in use as the railway was realigned in 1846.

Views of the railway at Gatehead

Image:Gateheadcoal2.JPG, Image:Gateheadlevelcrossing2.JPG, Image:Gateheadlevelcrossing1.JPG,

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Stansfield-AyrRenfrew Disused railway stations in East Ayrshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1812 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 Beeching closures in Scotland Former Glasgow and South Western Railway stations