, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Kirkconnel6.jpg , caption = Up (southbound) platform , borough =

Kirkconnel Kirkconnel ( Gaelic: ''Cille Chonaill'') is a small parish in Dumfries and Galloway, southwestern Scotland. It is located on the A76 near the head of Nithsdale. Principally it has been a sporting community. The name comes from The Church of S ...

, Dumfries and Galloway , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

, grid_position = , manager = ScotRail , platforms = 2 , code = KRK , original =

Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway (GPK&AR) was a railway in Scotland that provided train services between Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Ayr. It opened its first line, between Glasgow and Ayr, in stages from 1839 to 1840. The section ...

, years = 28 October 1850 , events = Opened , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

Kirkconnel railway station is 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 prep ...

in the town of

, Dumfries and Galloway,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The station is unstaffed, owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and managed by ScotRail.

History

Kirkconnel is situated on the former Glasgow and South Western Railway main line between and . It was one of the few stations on the route to avoid the Beeching Axe in the mid-1960s and was the only intermediate station between Kilmarnock and Dumfries for many years.

The railway poet

A plaque at the station commemorates

Alexander Anderson Alexander Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Alexander Anderson (illustrator) (1775–1870), American illustrator * Alexander Anderson (poet) (1845–1909), Scottish poet * Alexander Anderson (cartoonist) (1920–2010), American car ...

, the poet from Kirkconnel, who rose from being a railway worker to become Chief Librarian at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He was a surfaceman or

platelayer A platelayer (British English), fettler (British English – UK, Australia, NZ) or trackman (American English) is a railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway, usually under the charge of a foreman called (in UK ...

on the Glasgow and South Western Railway, and generally wrote under the name of Surfaceman.Alexander Anderson
/ref>

Services

On Monday to Saturdays, there are nine trains per day in each direction towards Dumfries (six of these continue to Carlisle) and Glasgow Central running on a mostly two-hourly frequency. However, there can be gaps up to four hours at certain times of the day. On Sundays, there is a very limited service of two trains per day in each direction towards Carlisle and Glasgow. There was previously one train a day to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on Monday to Saturdays, however this was stopped in the May 2022 timetable change.

Gallery

File:Kirkconnel(1).jpg, A freight train passing through Kirkconnel File:Kirkconnel(2).jpg

References

Sources

* *

External links

Video and commentary on Alexander Anderson, poetVideo and commentary on Kirkconnel Railway Station
* Railway stations in Dumfries and Galloway Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1850 Former Glasgow and South Western Railway stations 1850 establishments in Scotland {{DumfriesGalloway-railstation-stub