Copperas Hill railway station

Copperas Hill railway station served the small clifftop community of Copperas Hill, south of Harrington in the former county of Cumberland, England, which is now part of Cumbria.

Copperas Hill
LocationCopperas Hill, near Harrington, Cumbria, Copeland
England
Coordinates54.6042°N 3.5688°W / 54.6042; -3.5688
Grid referenceNX987243
Platforms1[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLowca Light Railway
Post-groupingLowca Light Railway
Key dates
15 April 1912Workmen's service commenced
2 June 1913Public passenger service[2]
September 1921Last appeared in Bradshaw
1 April 1929Workmen's service ended[3]

A public passenger service called at the station between 2 June 1913 and September 1921, though unadvertised workmen's trains had started in April 1912 and continued until April 1929, after which all forms of passenger service ceased.

By 1922 the service had settled down to three trains each way between Lowca and Workington Central, though, surprisingly in that age, trains had stopped calling at Copperas Hill in September 1921. There never was a public Sunday service.[4]

The station was on the Harrington and Lowca Light Railway which connected with the Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (CWJR) at Rosehill Junction a short distance north of Copperas Hill and south of Harrington Village. Workmen's services to and from Copperas Hill variously ran from Moss Bay Cart Siding, Maryport (during the First World War), Workington Central and Seaton (Cumbria). Public passenger trains ran to these last two only.

Freight services

The railway through Copperas Hill was first and foremost a mineral railway, with the short-lived workmen's and passenger services an afterthought. A waggonway had reached a chemical works at the station site in the first half of the nineteenth century, connecting Harrington harbour with John Pit and Hodgson Pit. Later developments, eventually ran northwards towards Workington and northeastwards to meet the Gilgarran Branch at Bain's Siding. The driving forces were coal at Lowca, fireclay and bricks (primarily aimed at lining furnaces at Workington's steelworks), coke and coking bi-products. Centrepiece for over fifty years was Harrington No. 10 Colliery which, confusingly, was not in Harrington, but in Lowca.

Between them these industrial concerns sustained the railway through Copperas Hill until final closure to all traffic in May 1973.

Although closed in 1921 the station was still in good shape in 1969.[5]

A British record

Copperas Hill station was short-lived, but the track immediately north of the station has its place in the railway record books. Its southbound uphill gradient of 1 in 17 was the steepest adhesion-worked British incline carrying a regular, timetabled passenger service.[6][7][8]

Afterlife

The track through the station site was lifted by the end of 1973. The trackbed now forms part of the Cumbrian Way.

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Rose Hill Platform
Line and station closed		   Lowca Light Railway   Micklam
Line and station closed

See also

References
  1. "Copperas Hill station, via Harrington History". Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  2. 1913 Public Timetable, via Cumbrian Railways Association
  3. Andrews 2001, pp. 20-23.
  4. Bradshaw 1985, p. 595.
  5. Anderson 2001, p. 402.
  6. McGowan Gradon 2004, P. 30, Note 2.
  7. Robinson 1985, p. 66.
  8. Robinson 2002, p. 27.

Sources

Further reading
  • Anderson, Paul (June 2001). Hawkins, Chris (ed.). "The dog's got your description". British Railways Illustrated. Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. 10 (9). ISSN 0961-8244.
  • 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). ISSN 0961-8244.
  • Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-11-2.
  • Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
  • Haynes, James Allen (April 1920). Cleator & Workington Junction Railway Working Time Table. Central Station, Workington: Cleator and Workington Junction Railway.
  • Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (August 1982). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (11). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (October 1982). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (12). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Joy, David (1973). Railways of the Lake Counties. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-85206-200-5.
  • News, Notes and (August 1973). Slater, J.N. (ed.). "Lowca Light Railway Closes". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 119 (868). ISSN 0033-8923.
  • Quayle, Howard (2007). Whitehaven: The Railways and Waggonways of a Unique Cumberland Port. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-5-6.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6.
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
  • Webb, David R. (October 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part Two". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (762). ISSN 0033-8923.
  • British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 978-0-7110-0320-0.
  • 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.
  • Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-946537-02-0.
  • Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8003-1.
  • Webb, David R. (September 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (761). ISSN 0033-8923.
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