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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 first railway in Scotland to obtain an authorising Act of Parliament; it was also the first railway in Scotland to use a steam locomotive; the first to carry passengers; and the River Irvine bridge, ''Laigh Milton Viaduct'', is the earliest railway viaduct in Scotland. It was a plateway, using L-shaped iron plates as rails, to carry wagons with flangeless wheels. In 1841, when more modern railways had developed throughout the West of Scotland, the line was converted from a plateway to a railway and realigned in places. The line became part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway system. Much of the original route is part of the present-day Kilmarnock to Barassie railway line, although the extremities of the original line have been lost. ==Origins== By the early years of the nineteenth century, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Marquess of Titchfield had acquired extensive lands and other properties in Ayrshire and elsewhere. When his father died in 1809, he became the 4th Duke of Portland. He owned coal workings at Kilmarnock, and in these early years transport of minerals to market required the use of coastal shipping; Ireland was an important destination.〔 Already in 1790, about 40% of the 8,000 tons annual production went by horse and cart to the sea at Irvine. Kilmarnock is ten miles (16 km) or so from the sea, and about 1806 he started to make a harbour at The Troon (nowadays referred to simply as ''Troon''). He had earlier considered a canal connection to there from Kilmarnock, but had changed his intention to a railway.〔C F Dendy Marshall, ''A History of British Railways Down to the Year 1830'', Oxford University Press, 1938, reprint 1971, 0 19 828254 0〕 He approached other landowners in the district to obtain their consent, and participation, in making a railway connection between Kilmarnock and the harbour, saying, "The plan to which I allude is for the purpose of making an iron rail road or railway from the Troon Point to Kilmarnock."〔Letter from Bentinck to Earl of Eglinton, dated 22 April 1806, quoted in ''Dendy Marshall''.〕 Evidently these approaches were successful in obtaining the landowners' consent, although very little financial commitment: * The Marquess of Titchfield (i.e. Bentinck himself): 67 shares * Lady Harriet Margaret Bentinck (his daughter): 10 shares * Lord Montgomerie: 1 share * The Earl of Eglinton: 1 share * Colonel John Boyle of Shewalton: 1 share〔〔Campbell Highet, ''The Glasgow and South Western Railway'', Oakwood Press, Lingfield, 1965〕 The total subscribed capital was £38,500. Bentinck appointed William Jessop as the engineer for the construction of the line; he had been engineer on the Surrey Iron Railway and the Croydon and Merstham railway〔Prof Sir Alec Skempton (ed), ''A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland - Volume 1: 1500 to 1830'', Thomas Telford Publishing, London, 2002, ISBN 0 7277 2939 X〕 Early railways and tramways simply serving pits and running only over the land of the pit owner did not require special authority; in this case the new line would cross the land of other proprietors and through the Burgh of Troon and cross the turnpike road. Bentinck evidently thought it prudent to get the authorisation of an Act of Parliament for his line; this may be due to the luke-warm support of his neighbours, and the earlier outright opposition of Colonel Fullarton of Crosbie Castle; Fullarton had died in 1808.〔C J A Robertson, ''The Origins of the Scottish Railway System, 1722 - 1844'', John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, 1983, ISBN 978-0-85976-088-1〕 Bentinck got his Act on 27 May 1808, when the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was incorporated.〔An Act for making a Railway from or near to the Town of ''Kilmarnock'', in the County of ''Ayr'', to a Place called ''The Troon'', in the said County, 48 Geo III〕 The line thus became the first railway in Scotland to be authorised by Act of Parliament. On the same day he got his Act for improving Troon Harbour. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kilmarnock and Troon Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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