Beckermet railway station

Beckermet railway station is a disused rail station located in the town of Beckermet in Cumbria.

Beckermet
Beckermet railway station, 1961
LocationBeckermet, Cumbria, Copeland
England
Coordinates54.4450°N 3.5198°W / 54.4450; -3.5198
Grid referenceNY015065
Platforms2[1][2][3][4]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLNWR & FR Joint Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
2 August 1869Opened
7 January 1935Closed to passengers
11 March 1940Reopened to workmen's trains[5]
8 April 1940Closed
6 May 1946Reopened
16 June 1947Closed[6]
1953Reopened for workmen's trains to Sellafield
6 September 1965Workmen's trains ended[7]

Tracks were laid southwards from Whitehaven and Moor Row as far as Egremont by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857.

By the 1860s, the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway company sought to extend southwards from Egremont to meet the coastal line at Sellafield, aiming for Millom, Barrow-in-Furness and beyond. The Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway company opposed this, so the two companies came to an accommodation and built the Egremont to Sellafield extension as a joint line. Beckermet was the sole intermediate passenger station on the extension.

The station was on the western edge of the village in Cumbria, England.[8][9]

History

The line to Egremont was one of the fruits of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the nineteenth century, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857. Egremont remained as the railway's southern terminus until 1869 when the company, in partnership with the Furness Railway, built a southern extension from Egremont to the coast line at Sellafield, with an intermediate station at Beckermet. This enabled traffic from the Cleator Moor and Rowrah areas, especially iron ore, to move much more readily southwards.

Services

In 1922 five northbound passenger trains left Beckermet, two connected with trains to Whitehaven at Moor Row, all the others continued there without a change. A Saturdays Only evening train terminated at Moor Row. The southbound service was similar. There were no Sunday trains.[10]

The LNWR and Furness Joint Railway divided traffic responsibilities so that passenger traffic through the station was usually worked by the Furness Railway.[11][12]

Goods traffic was typical of an industrial area, sustaining sidings and goods depots long after passenger services were withdrawn.[13]

Mineral traffic was the dominant flow, though this was subject to considerable fluctuation with trade cycles. A considerable amount of iron ore travelled south through Beckermet bound for the furnaces of Millom and Barrow-in-Furness.

Stations and signalling along the line south of Rowrah were changed during the Joint regime to conform to Furness Railway standards.[14]

Rundown and closure

The station closed on 7 January 1935 when normal passenger traffic ended along the line.

Life flickered briefly in Spring 1940 when workmen's trains were reinstated to support a period of high activity building the Royal Ordnance Factory at Drigg, but that lasted less than a month.[7]

A public Sellafield-Egremont-Beckermet-Moor Row-Whitehaven service was reinstated on 6 May 1946, only to be "suspended" on 16 June 1947, a victim of the post-war fuel crisis. Bradshaw still listed the service as Suspended in 1949.[7] It was never reinstated.[15]

Workmen's trains to Sellafield ended on 6 September 1965.[16][7]

Remarkably, a wholly new unadvertised passenger service started in September 1964, conveying pupils to Wyndham School in Egremont from Seascale in the morning then home after school. Initially this comprised eight steam-hauled carriages, ending typically formed of a pair of Derby Lightweight 2-car units. Sources differ on when this service ended:- 3 March 1969[5] or 11 December 1969.[17] Sources are silent on whether this called at Beckermet or passed straight through.

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
St Thomas Cross Platform
Line and station closed		   LNWR and FR Joint Railway   Sellafield
Line and station open

See also

References
  1. Robinson 2002, p. 39.
  2. Bairstow 1995, p. 33.
  3. Webb 1964a, p. 787.
  4. Davey 1984, p. 42.
  5. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 142.
  6. Butt 1995, p. 90.
  7. Quayle 2007, p. 87.
  8. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 26.
  9. Jowett 1989, Map 36.
  10. Bradshaw 1985, p. 510.
  11. McGowan Gradon 2004, p. 12.
  12. Quayle 2007, p. 38.
  13. Quayle 2007, p. 79.
  14. "W McGowan Gradon's 1942 Furness Railway study, via cumberlandarchives.co.uk". Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  15. Marshall 1981, p. 116.
  16. Suggitt 2008, p. 56.
  17. Quayle 2007, pp. 87-8.

Sources
  • Anderson, Paul (April 2002). Hawkins, Chris (ed.). "Dog in the Manger? The Track of the Ironmasters". British Railways Illustrated. Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. 11 (7).
  • Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-11-2.
  • Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, Roger W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places X 43. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-281-1.
  • Davey, C.R. (1984). Reflections of the Furness Railway. Barrow in Furness: Lakeland Heritage Books. ISBN 978-0-9509926-0-0.
  • Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
  • McGowan Gradon, W. (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway. Grange-over-Sands: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 0-9540232-2-6.
  • Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8003-6.
  • Quayle, Howard (2007). Whitehaven: The Railways and Waggonways of a Unique Cumberland Port. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-5-6.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1-84033-205-0.
  • Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6.
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
  • Webb, David R. (October 1964a). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part Two". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (762).

Further reading
  • British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
  • Atterbury, Paul (2009). Along Lost Lines. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-2706-7.
  • Bowtell, Harold D. (1989). Rails through Lakeland: An Illustrated Journey of the Workington-Cockermouth-Keswick-Penrith Railway 1847-1972. Wyre, Lancashire: Silverling Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-947971-26-2.
  • Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 094653702X.
  • Webb, David R. (September 1964b). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (761).
  • Western, Robert (2001). The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway OL113. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-564-0.
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