Hollybush railway station was a railway station in East Ayrshire, Scotland that served the nearby Hollybush Hotel and the rural district. The line on which the old station stands was originally part of the Ayr and Dalmellington Railway, worked and later owned by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The station, opened as Hollybush later became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and was closed by the British Railways Board (BRB).

v t e Ayr and Dalmellington Railway
Legend
Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway Newton-on-Ayr Newton Junction Ayr to Mauchline Branch Hawkhill Junction Ayr Alloway Junction Maidens and Dunure Railway Ailsa Hospital Maybole Junction Maybole (Dalrymple) Junction Ayr & Maybole Junction Rly Burnton Viaduct Hollybush Ayr to Mauchline Branch Holehouse Junction Holehouse Junction Patna Waterside Waste Tip Dalmellington

The Ayr and Dalmellington Railway began as the Ayrshire and Galloway (Smithstown & Dalmellington) Railway, with its enabling legislation receiving royal assent on 8 June 1847. The branch line was planned to run between Waterside and Sillyhole near Dalmellington, however the company evolved into the Ayr and Dalmellington Railway, with further legislation receiving royal assent on 4 August 1853 to allow the tracks to be extended to both Ayr and Dalmellington.

In 1856 the station had a single building and one siding, approached down a lane that ran from the Malcomston Bridge. The 1894 OS shows a larger station building complex, several sidings, a loading dock, goods shed, railway cottages and an access off the side road. In 1908 a weigh machine was present, a signal box close to the overbridge and a crane near the railway cottages. By 1971 the sidings had been lifted and the nearby school off the B7034 was closed.

The majority of the line is still open today (datum 2013) for freight trains serving opencast mining sites in the area.

The station house survives as a private dwelling lying just off the A713 Ayr, however the old platform has been demolished.

The evergreen holly Ilex aquifolium plant has been used a pub sign since Roman times and thus became a popular name for inns such as the one that Hollybush station is named from.

Notes

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.

• Hollybush station
• Hollybush railway
• The Old station nameboard

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Maybole Junction Line open; station closed		Glasgow and South Western Railway Ayr and Dalmellington Railway		Holehouse Junction Line open; station closed