a subscription of £60,000, which was half of the proposed capital of the scheme. Local interests found the remainder, and a Bill was presented to Parliament; it attracted little opposition and the authorising Act for the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was passed on 21 July 1856. The line was to be a little over 19 miles (31 km) long. Construction proceeded quickly, but the authorised capital proved insufficient for completion, and an additional £24,000 in 6% preference shares was authorised by Parliament in the 1859 session; the G&SWR subscribed all of the additional capital, becoming the majority shareholder. Opening The line opened on 7 November 1859 and was immediately commercially successful; the preference share dividend was paid in full and sufficient surplus enabled a 1% dividend to be paid on ordinary shares in the first full year. The line was operated from the outset by the G&SWR. In 1861 the Portpatrick Railway completed a connection from Castle Douglas to Stranraer and Portpatrick, and through traffic ran from Carlisle and points south and east over the CD&DR line. The Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway was amalgamated with the Glasgow and South Western Railway on 1 August 1865, by the terms of the G.&S.W.R. Amalgamation Act of 5 July 1865. In the twentieth century the amalgamated G&SWR formed part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 grouping of the railways. The Caledonian Railway gained running powers over the line between Dumfries and Castle Douglas, which allowed it access to Portpatrick, Stranraer and Stranraer harbour over a jointly owned line, the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway. These running rights allowed the Caledonian Railway to run Irish boat trains from Carlisle and south of the border, considerably shortening the former longer route though Ayrshire. Closure The line was substantially closed, under the Beeching Axe, on 14 June 1965. The section between Maxwelltown and Dumfries remained open to serve an oil depot, but this section of line has now been lifted and is a cycleway/footpath. Dalbeattie accident, 1874 There was a collision on the single line in 1874. In Tales of the Glasgow and South Western Railway, Smith records that All west of Lochanhead was single line then. A G.&S.W. ballast train had the staff and was working in the section to Castle Douglas. A westbound Caledonian goods was given a ticket, and about a mile west of Dalbeattie met the