Campaign to re-open Mauchline and Cumnock train stations

The Cumnock and Mauchline Railway Stations Action Group is made up of local representatives, including ward councillors and community council members.

The group's campaign, which has received strong backing from locals, aims to bring back railway stations to the towns- after they were both closed in 1965.

An online petition has been signed by around 1,500 people so far.

And while the campaign group admits it won't be an overnight success story, they say they are happy with the way things are moving along.

Cumnock Railway Station (Image: Re-open Cumnock Railway Station Facebook page.)

Art pupils from the Robert Burns Academy are currently taking part in a project to design posters to support the campaign.

The hope is that reopening the two stations will cut the number of cars on the area's roads and open up new travel opportunities for work, education and leisure - as well as attracting more people to the area.

Cumnock and New Cumnock councillor Neill Watts is one the faces heading up the group.

READ MORE: Petition launched to reopen two former East Ayrshire railway stations

He told the Chronicle: "I joined my colleague Councillor Alyson Simmons and some of the members of the Cumnock and Mauchline Railway Stations Action Group at the Barony Campus in Cumnock.

"We met with the head of the Robert Burns Academy art department and received an update on the progress of an art project being completed by pupils, focused on the campaign to get Cumnock and Mauchline 'back on track' and re-open the train stations in our towns.

"Although the pupils' work is at a very early stage it was absolutely fantastic to see what had been achieved to date and hear about their excitement at the project's challenge."

You can also help by liking and following the group's 'new' Facebook page - Cumnock & Mauchline Railway Stations Action Group.

The old Mauchline railway station stood on the line that is still in operation today between Kilmarnock and Dumfries.

It closed on December 6, 1965.

Cumnock was previously home to not one but two railway stations.

The original - which opened in 1850 - also stood on today's Kilmarnock-Dumfries line, but was closed to passengers in 1965, on the same date that the station in Mauchline was permanently shut.

It was located off the A70 at Barrhill Road, and the site is now occupied by the Bute House care home.

The second Cumnock station, around three-quarters of a mile south of the town centre, opened in 1872 and closed in September 1951.

It was located off Cairn Road, near the junction with Recreation Road, on a now-closed line that ran south from Annbank and also featured stations at Ochiltree, Dumfries House and Cronberry.