Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway

Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway
Loch Ken Viaduct
Overview
Other name(s)	The Port Road
Status	Disused
Locale	Galloway, Scotland
Termini	Castle Douglas Stranraer
History
Completed	1862
Closed	1965
Route map Legend Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway Castle Douglas Portpatrick Line Junction Kirkcudbright Railway Crossmichael Parton Loch Ken Viaduct New Galloway Stroan Viaduct Loch Skerrow Halt Water of Fleet Viaduct Gatehouse of Fleet Creetown Palnure Newton Stewart Newton Stewart Junction Mains of Penninghame Causeway End Wigtown Kirkinner Whauphill Sorbie Millisle Millisle Junction Garlieston Broughton Skeog Whithorn Kirkcowan Glenluce Water of Luce Viaduct Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway Challoch Junction Dunragit Castle Kennedy Cairnryan Junction Cairnryan Military Railway Stranraer Harbour Junction Stranraer Harbour Stranraer Town Colfin Portpatrick Portpatrick Harbour

The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railways^{[note 1]} was a network of railway lines serving sparsely populated areas of south-west Scotland. The title appeared in 1885 when the previously independent Portpatrick Railway (PPR) and Wigtownshire Railway (WR) companies were amalgamated by Act of Parliament into a new company jointly owned by the Caledonian Railway, Glasgow & South Western Railway, Midland Railway and the London & North Western Railway and managed by a committee called the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Committee.

The Portpatrick Railway connected Castle Douglas and Portpatrick, opened in 1861 and 1862 and was intended to revive the transit to the north of Ireland through Portpatrick, although Stranraer actually became the dominant port. The line became known as The Port Road, as nobody ever called Portpatrick anything other than 'The Port.' ^[1]

The Wigtownshire Railway, which ran from a connection with the PPR at Newton Stewart to Whithorn, opened from 1875.

The PPR route often known as the Port Road, linked Dumfries, via Castle Douglas, with the port towns of Portpatrick and Stranraer. It also formed part of a route by rail and sea from England and Scotland to the north of Ireland.^{[2][page needed]}

The line was single track throughout, serving a region of very low population density, but it achieved significance by carrying heavy traffic, both passenger and goods, to and from northern Irish destinations through Portpatrick and Stranraer. The line closed in 1965 apart from the short section from Stranraer Harbour to Challoch Junction, which continues in use as part of the Glasgow - Ayr - Stranraer route.^{[3][page needed]}

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