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Cunninghamhead railway station was a railway station serving the hamlet of Cunninghamhead, North Ayrshire and the town of Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The station was originally part of the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway and later the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR).

History
The station opened on 4 April 1843 as Stewarton, despite being several miles away from Stewarton itself. A dedicated horse drawn carriage service operated to carry passengers from Stewarton to the station for a number of years. The station closed on 22 May 1848, reopened again in November 1850, and was eventually renamed Cunninghamhead on 1 September 1873.

The station closed permanently to passengers on 1 January 1955, although the line was still in use by freight trains and diverted passenger trains until 23 October 1973.

Description
The station consisted of two side platforms, with a moderately sized building on the southbound platform, and a small sandstone shelter on the northbound platform. A stationmaster's house was present, a signal box was located a short distance away, and a goods shed and a small weigh house with extensive cattle docks and other sidings were located behind the northbound platform.



Many of the Ayrshire or Cunninghame breed of cattle were sent from here to all parts of the United Kingdom and the British Empire beyond. The Ayrshire cattle breed were even sent from nearby Wheatrig Farm to restock the Falkland Islands after the war with Argentina. An electric telegraph was located at this point of the railway in 1860. By 1963 the northbound platform had been removed, however the southbound platform and main station building remained intact. A single running line and some sidings were all that remained here at closure.

Little remains of the station site today, aside from the cattle docks, parts of the station garden and the remains of the signal box. Slightly to the north along the former line a viaduct over the Annick Water remains intact, having been restored in 2005/2006. A footpath had run down from Cunninghamhead House to the station, reaching the road via an embankment in the field and passing through the fine sandstone wall which runs down from the bridge. The footpath 'gap' was closed in 2006 when this wall was rebuilt.

Industrial


A mineral line ran from just south of the station in 1895 past Overtoun Farm towards Southhook and Springside, however the line was lifted by 1911. A short siding to Annick Lodge mining pit existed to the north of the station in 1860, however it was lifted (and the pit closed) by 1895. Further north along the line was a siding serving Annick Lodge Colliery.

Above the station in 1860 was a cottage, called Standalane, lying on the left hand side of the old road to Springside, which is now closed, as a new road has been made closer to Irvine for traffic safety reasons. Standalane's position in 1897 is shown as being almost on the mineral line; The OS maps after this date do not show it at all. In 1776, plate 45 of G. Taylor and A. Skinner's 'Survey and maps of the roads of North Britain or Scotland' shows 'Standalone' marked, so the dwelling was of some significant antiquity. The old sandstone parapet of the bridge overlooking the site of Cunninghamhead railway station has many naive carvings on it, made over the years by local children and pupils from the local school as they waited and watched the old steam and diesel trains going by.

An accident is recorded in which an Elizabeth Kennedy lost both arms when she fell beneath a train here at sometime around 1885 to 1900.