Ardeer Miniature Railway.

[little plum]

Please excuse the quality, the images are from scanned negatives and it's the best I can do with them.
I have some more negatives, when tweaked I might upload for the railway enthusiasts.

[John Donnelly]

That takes me back. We had some great things in the TTT's. We just threw them away. I'll correct that. We let the authorities take them off us and throw them away.

A nostalgic, (again), JD.

[VivAyrshire]

I remember this at the time it was no longer in use. You could climb in and sit in various sections of the wall

** sobs **

[calleytwo]

Great stuff LP - my favorite subject. Wee Ali

[GEODGC]

Here`s how it looks now . I took these last year.

[little plum]

Here's 2 from bobbydargs collection.

The older 3trs, hi-hmm, will remember the original location of the miniature railway was on the right hand side of the rec brae as you went down. I'm sure the images posted are at the newer location on the quarry side, just wondering, when did this take place. Yes I know it was at the time of the new housing development, when did this development start.

[Academic]

I remember the model railway as it used to be past the rec club at the top of the sports pitches (football and a cricket pavillion..?) with the houses of Hillcrest above.

When the trains were going round I seem to remember a foxes hole on the banking at the side and on at least one occassion I remember seeing a fox peering out in daylight..( a big thing for me at that age)

I remember they used to have a fete / gala day there in the summer with the model railway being in use at that in the late 70`s and possibly into the early 80`s..

On the point that the authorities taking things away... I take my children during the summer months to Strathaven Park where they have a model railway which adds to the charm of a lovely park with all the things that Ardeer had (bowling green, pitch and putt, kids play areas etc) but as far as I`m led to believe let it all go..Shame..

[little plum]

Wee Ali, not much success with the other negatives as you can see, but I thought you might find them interesting.

[calleytwo]

Looks as if it was a great club. I remeber when I was very young going to a fete at Saltcoats Public School, where my brother was a student, and seeing a similar portable setup in action. I wonder if it was people from the same group?
We have a live steam setup at Roseworthy Campus of the University of Adelaide about 9 kilometres away but I have not visited it for about ten years. Must take a look in next month. Alistair

[Incomer]

Here's 2 from bobbydargs collection.

railway2[1].jpg

railway3[1].jpg

The older 3trs, hi-hmm, will remember the original location of the miniature railway was on the right hand side of the rec brae as you went down. I'm sure the images posted are at the newer location on the quarry side, just wondering, when did this take place. Yes I know it was at the time of the new housing development, when did this development start.

Early seventies as far as I can remember possibly 1972

[little plum]

Early seventies as far as I can remember possibly 1972

Incomer, that sounds about right. I know the cricket pavilion etc was still in existence in the late 60's.

Wee Ali, the steam engine and rolling stock was hand made by the model engineering section of the Ardeer Recreation Club. It's quite possible that the engineering section attended local events for demonstration purposes , after all , someone would know someone and it would add to the attraction at a gala/fete.

As a wee aside, I wonder what happened to the steam engine. I hope it was rescued by a farsighted individual and is tucked away in someones loft to be rediscovered in the future.

[morag]

Early seventies as far as I can remember possibly 1972

Incomer, that sounds about right. I know the cricket pavilion etc was still in existence in the late 60's.

Wee Ali, the steam engine and rolling stock was hand made by the model engineering section of the Ardeer Recreation Club. It's quite possible that the engineering section attended local events for demonstration purposes , after all , someone would know someone and it would add to the attraction at a gala/fete.

As a wee aside, I wonder what happened to the steam engine. I hope it was rescued by a farsighted individual and is tucked away in someones loft to be rediscovered in the future.

Me too, Neil. I loved the rec as it was, spent many a day exploring length and width and I loved the railway and fetes. Used to peek through the hedge at the lawn bowlers, lots of speedwell on thon wee grassy verge. I even took fencing (the kind wi' an epee, no a roll o chain link) lessons there. At the rec no' oan the grassy verge..