page_title: Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway
section_title: Opening
hierarchical_section_title: Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway / History / Opening
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway system
context_page_description: The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was a railway in south west Scotland which linked Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire to Dumfries.
  It opened in 1859. Other companies' lines extended westwards and southwards, and the CD&D line formed a key link in opening up the agricultural area of south-west Scotland. When Stranraer and Portpatrick were reached by the contiguous lines, the CD&D line was the eastern section of the Port Road, which provided an important route from English originating points to Northern Ireland by ferry between Portpatrick and Donaghadee. Much later the ferry route was from Stranraer to Larne.
  The CD&DR was absorbed by the larger Glasgow and South Western Railway in 1865.
  The line was one of the 1965 Beeching closures, except for a stub from Dumfries to Maxwelltown Oil Terminal which continued until 1994, although it was dormant in the latter years. Nothing now remains of the rail activity on the line.
context_section_description: The line opened on 7 November 1859 and was immediately commercially successful; the preference share dividend was paid in full and sufficient surplus enabled a 1% dividend to be paid on ordinary shares in the first full year. The line was operated from the outset by the G&SWR.
  In 1861 the Portpatrick Railway completed a connection from Castle Douglas to Stranraer and Portpatrick, and through traffic ran from Carlisle and points south and east over the CD&DR line.
  The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was amalgamated with the Glasgow and South Western Railway on 1 August 1865, by the terms of the G.&S.W.R. Amalgamation Act of 5 July 1865.
  In the twentieth century the amalgamated G&SWR formed part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 grouping of the railways.
  The Caledonian Railway gained running powers over the line between Dumfries and Castle Douglas, which allowed it access to Portpatrick, Stranraer and Stranraer harbour over a jointly owned line, the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway. These running rights allowed the Caledonian Railway to run Irish boat trains from Carlisle and south of the border, considerably shortening the former longer route though Ayrshire.
caption: The CD&DR system at opening, with important (later) lines shown