Opened by the
Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway in 1848, the line serving it was extended northwards to
Kilmarnock and
Glasgow two years later (the GD&CR became part of the
Glasgow and South Western Railway at the same time). It subsequently became the junction for branches to
Castle Douglas and
Stranraer (opened between 1859 and 1861), (opened in 1863 and taken over in 1865 by the
Caledonian Railway) and latterly to
Moniaive (
Cairn Valley Railway, opened in 1905). All of these later lines have now closed (the
Port Road to Stranraer being the last to go in June 1965), leaving only the original G&SWR main line open to serve the town. The
Beeching Axe cutting the
Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and
Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway has resulted in adverse mileage to connect
Stranraer with a longer line via
Kilmarnock and
Ayr. The journey by railway and ferry via
Stranraer to
Larne Harbour or since the line closed to the
Port of Belfast is much longer.
Historic Scotland have designated the station and separately the adjacent station hotel as category B listed buildings.
Carnation built an
evaporated milk factory in Dumfries that opened in 1935, eventually constructing three units producing
tin cans, evaporated milk and latterly
Coffeemate. The original factory had private siding access to the station's goods yard, which gave access for
milk trains to the facility, in both delivering raw product as well as distribution to
London. Milk trains stopped in the mid-1970s. The United States parent company was bought by
Nestle in 1985, after which a decline in the facility began. CoffeeMate production ceased in 2000, after which the site was fully redeveloped as an
industrial estate. == Future ==