The town and harbour stations in Ardrossan celebrated 33 years since re-opening on January 19, 1987.

The town stands out for being the smallest town with three railway stations.

People often remark that Ardrossan has more than its fair share of railway stations.

Three in one wee town is unusual and in fact the town has had six different stations over the years.

Electrification led to the reopening of two of the stations in 1987

Ardrossan Harbour was the replacement for one located on Winton Pier which opened in 1840.

The original, renamed Winton Pier station in 1909, was the terminus for those travelling on the ferry.

It competed with the Ardrossan Montgomerie Pier station until 1923 when both came under joint ownership.

The new site is around 200m further inland than the original.

Ardrossan Town originally opened in 1831 by the Ardrossan Railway company which ran services between Kilwinning and the Ardrossan, as well as freight from the surrounding collieries.

South Beach station was opened on January 1, 1883.

In 1956, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Ayrshire, stepping of the train at Ardrossan Town Station.

Celebrating the two stations’ birthdays, ScotRail posted: “Happy Birthday to Ardrossan Town and Ardrossan Harbour railway stations. These stations opened on 19 January 1987. Why not visit this beautiful town on the Ayrshire coast? You won’t be disappointed.”

Ardrossan North was a large station next to where Shell developed a refinery.

The station closed in 1932 and its canopies were used at Glasgow’s Buchanan Sreet.

The platforms and lines were replaced with a housing development in 2017.