Black Craig - New Quarry

00, British Railways, Scottish Region

Limestone is normally sized before sale. So is quarried & given its primarily crushing off scene, then moved by conveyor to the secondary crusher, conveyed to the screen, screened to size & dumped into the surge bunkers. From the surge bunkers sized limestone is moved by conveyor to the loader, if required limestone of various sizes can be mixed between the surge bunkers and loader.

History          Opening in 1905 and its relative success lead to a proposal to extend the Cairn Valley Light Railway [Dumfries - Moniaive] 26 miles to Dalmellington via Carsphairn and Black Craig creating a shorter route from England to Ayr, the south of the Ayrshire coal field, and Dalmellington [an important coal & steel town]. The line would have been expensive to build [a Bridge over the Waters of Ken and minimising grades] and operate [long climbs of over 1:50]. It would have served an area of sheep farming [Carsphairn sheep show is in early June], quarrying and mining [lead/zinc/silver at Woodhead & haematite/limestone at Black Craig]. History has been twisted with the line coming to fruition, becoming part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 and British Railways Scottish Region in 1948. The layout is set in the 1950’s with Scottish Region stock including Pannier tanks that surprisingly made their way to Scotland. The quarries at Black Craig supply limestone to the iron works at Dalmellington.