Maxwelltown railway station was a station in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, located on the Dumfries-to- Stranraer direct railway line. It served the town of

Maxwelltown Maxwelltown ( gd, Ceann Drochaid, IPA: �kʰʲaun̴̪ˈt̪ɾɔxətʲ was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh and by the time of the burgh's abolition in 1929 it was the most populous burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. ...

History

In the middle of the nineteenth century the counties of

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or ...

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

and

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...

(now all part of the administrative region of Dumfries and Galloway) were devoted to agriculture but lacked efficient land communications links with the rest of the United Kingdom. Mail from the northern part of England and Scotland to Ireland passed this way through the ports of

Portpatrick Portpatrick is a village and civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in breadth, covering . History ...

and

Donaghadee Donaghadee ( , ) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor. It is in the civil parish of Donaghadee and ...

, but the poor roads made the passage difficult.Fryer, C E J, ''The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railways'', The Oakwood Press, Headington, 1991, The Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway (GD&CR) was authorised in 1846, and the authorisation appears to have included a branch from Dumfries to

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of ...

, but the shortage of money at that time led to abandonment of the plans for the branch.First Report of the Directors of the ''Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway'', quoted in Fryer.Highet, Campbell, ''The Glasgow & South-Western Railway'', Oakwood Press, Lingfield, 1965 The line opened on 7 November 1859 and was immediately commercially successful; the preference share dividend was paid in full, and sufficient surplus enabled a 1% dividend to be paid on ordinary shares in the first full year. The line was operated from the outset by the G&SWR. In 1861 the

Portpatrick Railway The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint RailwaysThe final word is in the plural. was a network of railway lines serving sparsely populated areas of south-west Scotland. The title appeared in 1885 when the previously independent Portpatrick Rai ...

completed a connection from

Castle Douglas Castle Douglas ( gd, Caisteal Dhùghlais) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the lieutenancy area of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the eastern part of Galloway, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet. It is in th ...

to Stranraer and Portpatrick, and through traffic ran from Carlisle and points south and east over the CD&DR line. The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was amalgamated with the Glasgow and South Western Railway on 1 August 1865, by the terms of the G.&S.W.R. Amalgamation Act of 5 July 1865. In the twentieth century the amalgamated G&SWR formed part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 grouping of the railways. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway then became part of British Railways. The station was closed for passenger traffic on 1 March 1939Passengers No More by G.Daniels and L.Dench but trains continued to pass the station until the line was substantially closed, under the Beeching Axe, on 14 June 1965. The section between Maxwelltown and Dumfries remained open to serve an oil depot, but this section of line was subsequently closed and lifted and is a cycleway/footpath. 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 ...

now takes the longer line via

Kilmarnock railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = File:Kilmarnock Railway Station 2016.jpg , caption = Main entrance to Kilmarnock railway station, showing the upgraded station clock to the right , ...

and Ayr railway station to reach

Stranraer railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Stranraer railway station.jpg , caption = 156 434 at Stranraer , borough = Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway , country = Sco ...

, linking to ferries to Larne Harbour and the

Port of Belfast Belfast Harbour is a major maritime hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, handling 67% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and about 25% of the maritime trade of the entire island of Ireland. It is a vital gateway for raw materials, exports and c ...

References

{{coord, 55.0710, -3.6367, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Dumfries and Galloway Former Glasgow and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1939 Buildings and structures in Dumfries