Moniaive railway station is the closed station terminus of the

Cairn Valley Light Railway The Cairn Valley Light Railway was a rural railway line built to connect Moniaive and other communities in the Cairn Valley with the main railway network at Dumfries. It opened in 1905 but usage was disappointing, and declined further when bus ...

(CVR) branch, from Dumfries. It served the rural area of

Moniaive Moniaive ( 'monny-IVE'; gd, Am Moine Naomh, ''"The Holy Moor"'') is a village in the Parish of Glencairn, in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It stands on the Cairn and Dalwhat Waters, north-west of the town of Dumfries. Moniaive ha ...

in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

History

The official opening day was 28 February 1905, accompanied by much local celebration, the first train of six

corridor coach A corridor coach is a type of railway passenger coach divided into compartments and having a corridor down one side of the coach to allow free movement along the train and between compartments. These were first introduced, in Britain at least, ar ...

es being hauled by a Manson 4-4-0, Number 190. The journey to Dumfries took an hour and cost 2s. 6d. return fare. Archibald Wilkie from Kirkconnel station was Moniaive's first station master, replaced by George MacDonald whose last charge had been Ruthwell station.Kirkpatrick, Page 53 From 1906 to 1907 a bus ran from Thornhill to Moniaive to cater for prospective passengers, however it was not a success. The CVR was nominally independent, but was in reality controlled by the Glasgow and South Western Railway.Sanders, page 50 The line was closed to passengers on 3 May 1943, during WW2 and to freight in 1949 on 4 July, and the track lifted in 1953. 1947 is also quoted as a date of complete closure. Moniaive had been one of the last places in Scotland to be connected to the railway network. Home and starting banner signals were used, electrically controlled, for each direction. Trains were, at that time uniquely, controlled by a development of the Syke's 'lock and block' system whereby the trains operated treadles on the single line to interact with the block instruments. The station building was extended to provide the station master with his own office in October 1916.Kirkpatrick, Page 52 During WW2 large numbers of Norwegian troops travelled to and from Moniaive whilst encamped nearby. In 1921 the Moniaive engine shed was closed and from that point the first train of the day ran from Dumfries. In 2014 a proposal was put forward to relocate the station building to the

Scottish Railway Preservation Society The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The society's headquarters is at Bo'ness, in central Scotland. Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway Th ...

's Manuel station on the Bo'ness and Kinneil line.Armstrong, Page 11

Views at the station in 2009

File:Moniaive station Dumfries.JPG, A view from the station entrance File:Moniaive Station frontage.JPG, The old station frontage with the station master's office in the foreground. File:Moniaive station frontage view.JPG, Side and front view File:Moniaive station rear view.JPG, Far side of the station building

References

Notes

Sources

* * Armstrong, Charles. Moniaive Station. ''Sou'West''. Summer 2015. No.170. * Kirkpatrick, Ian (2000). ''The Cairn Valley Light Railway''. Usk : The Oakwood Press. * Sanders, Keith and Hodgins, Douglas (1995). ''British Railways. Past and Present South West Scotland''. No. 19. . * Thomas, David St John & Whitehouse, Patrick (1993). ''The Romance of Scotlands Railways''. Newton Abbot : David St John Thomas. .

External links