Laigh Milton Viaduct
Gatehead, Kilmarnock

This is the original viaduct on the ten mile trackway built in 1811 by the 4th Duke of Portland to carry coal from his mines near Kilmarnock to the port of Troon.

It takes the track across the River Irvine and the current line and bridge can be seen upstream in these photos. These first two are looking south, upstream.

Officially titled “The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway”. This viaduct is the oldest surviving example on a public railway and is often described as the first railway viaduct in the world.

It was in effect a horse-drawn railway (a dry canal?) and was built before reliable steam locomotives were invented.

Although Richard Trevithick had built steam engines before his 1804 locomotive, Robert Stevenson's “Rocket“ wasn't built until 1829, about eighteen years after this plateway was opened.

A steam locomotive was used on this line in about 1816 but it didn't last for long.

The bridge is open to walkers and pedestrians and there's a (rough) path from the old and now derelict Laigh Milton Mill, just round the bend to the left, with parking spaces.

That's the A71 between Kilmarnock and Irvine across the photo near the top edge.
Taken looking north, downstream.

The wagons carrying coal ran between vertical plates rather than on rails, a system that was easier and cheaper to build than conventional railway lines and just as effective.

Part of the plateway has been left as a sample.

From directly overhead.

A close-up of the sample plateway.