one end opened allowing the coal to tumble into the hold of the collier in a process that took about a minute for each waggon. It is unclear how many steam locomotives were used however one is described as being about 25 horsepower, requiring no tender as the water tank was positioned above the boiler and the coal was stored on either side of the driver's cab. The routes The waggonway had a complex history with possible changes of route and frequent abandonment of branches and sidings as many of the pits had relatively short working lives. The waggonway at its greatest extent had a 'main line' that ran from a complex of sidings running to the side of the quay at Newton on Ayr up through Wallacetown, onwards past Blackhouse, Whitletts and Dalmilling from whence it ran towards Thorneyflat with a branch to Gibbsyard, Stevenson and Wheatpark, whilst running onwards via New Barns to Holm where the terminus was for a number of years. Crossing the River Ayr below Oswald's Bridge it continued sometime after 1865 towards Annbank via Brockle Quarry and Colvinston Farm to end near Enterkine No. 3 Pit, at least five miles from Ayr. A number of other pits in the vicinity of the waggonway may also have been served by the waggonway although no hard evidence survives. A large embankment ran across the Long Holm to the Holm Pit at Oswald's Bridge and this was removed the 1920s although it is till visible as a cropmark. The waggonway and pits today Little or nothing survives at many of the various pits and associated spoil heaps, however sections of the track bed can be identified in such places as Cutting Wood and Pheasant Nook near Auchincruive as well as the remains of waggonway bridges across the River Ayr at Brockle Quarry and below Oswald's Bridge. Road overbridges survive intact at Oaklea Farm and Colvinston Farm. Stone railway sleepers with the imprint of the chair base and two drilled holes survive as part of the Oaklea Bridge. Foundations of buildings and the abutment of the old bridge survive in the vicinity of the old Holm Pit. A section of the old trackbed near the site of Annbaank House is used as a footpath and is known locally as the old line. Micro-history Other contemporary waggonways existed on the Craigie and on the Holmiston estates with sections of