Rankinston railway station

Rankinston is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) off the B730, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south east of the town of Ayr. Rankinston commands a panoramic view of over 20 miles (32 km) north, looking over the towns of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon. During the reign of Robert the Bruce, tradesmen, merchants and farmers were encouraged from the continent to settle in Scotland in an attempt to improve the country. A Flemish family by the name of Rankin acquired the lands of Mill o'Shiel and it is thought that this is where Rankinston gets its name. The village was built to allow the coal miners that worked in the local pits to have housing close to their work. At first these were miners' rows built by the pit owners, very basic dwellings consisting of one room and outside toilet; sometimes up to 11 members of the same family would live in this one room. During the 1920s the local council built housing of a much higher standard. Over the years the village has gone from a farming hamlet in the 1700s, to a bustling mining village with over 800 inhabitants in 1900, to a rural outpost of just 260 inhabitants at present. The recent decline in population was due to the closure of Littlemill pit in 1974. The village had a shop, but is now served by a mobile post office and Community Centre that is run by East Ayrshire Council, but managed by the local members of the village. There is a bus service to Ayr every two hours.

Cairntable Halt railway station was a railway station serving a rural district and the miners' row of forty-eight houses at the Cairntable Terraces, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The station was opened as late as circa 1928 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway on the Holehouse Junction to Rankinston line.

Drongan is a former mining village in East Ayrshire, some 8 miles (13 km) east of Ayr and west of Cumnock. It had a population of 4686 in 2011.

Belston Loch (NS 34894 16186), also recorded as Dromsmodda Loch is a small freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire Council Area, near Sinclairston, 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Drongan, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole. Parish of Ochiltree, Scotland.

Kerse Loch (NS 34894 16186), also recorded as Carse Loch (1841) is a small freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire Council Area, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole, Parish of Dalrymple, Scotland.

Drongan railway station (NS445190) was a railway station serving the village of Drongan, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The station was originally part of the Ayr and Cumnock Branch on the Glasgow and South Western Railway.

Loch Shield (NS 45521 19444), originally Loch of Scheel was a freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire Council Area, now drained, near Drongan, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole, Parish of Ochiltree, Scotland.

Millmannoch, also once known locally as the 'Mill of Mannoch' or Kilmannoch, is a ruined mill and hamlet in the old Barony of Sundrum, South Ayrshire, Parish of Coylton, Scotland about a mile from Coylton and Drongan. The 'Trysting Tree' of Robert Burns's poem The Soldier's Return stood nearby. A smithy was once located here in addition to the miller's cottage and later, a farm.

Polnessan (Scottish Gaelic: Poll an Easain, pool on the small waterfall) is a small rural village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Polnessan has a population of 87, and is located a mile north of Patna on the A713 road. Polnessan has no facilities, and is effectively a long row of council housing. The houses were originally built by Ayr County Council for miners and their families on the Houldsworth pit, a nearby coal mine first sunk by Dalmellington Iron Company in 1900. There are bus services to Ayr and Dalmellington regularly from Polnessan, run by the Stagecoach bus company, as well as postal facilities.

Plaid Loch (NS 485186) was a freshwater loch in East Ayrshire, now a remnant due to drainage, near Sinclairston and 2 miles (3 km) south-east of Drongan, lying in a glacial kettle hole,.