Hincaster branch line

Last updated

Hincaster branch line
Bela Viaduct.jpg
Bela Viaduct about 1930
Overview
Locale Cumbria, England
History
Opened1876 (1876)
Closed1966 (1966)
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Hincaster branch
BSicon CONTg@Gq.svg
BSicon edABZq+l.svg
BSicon BHFq.svg
BSicon CONTfq.svg
Arnside
BSicon exBHF.svg
Sandside
BSicon WASSERq.svg
BSicon exhKRZWae.svg
BSicon WASSERq.svg
BSicon exBHF.svg
Heversham
BSicon CONTg@Gq.svg
BSicon eABZql.svg
BSicon BHFq.svg
BSicon CONTfq.svg
Oxenholme
Junction at Hincaster Adlington, Blackburn, Cherry Tree, Chorley, Hincaster Ingleton & Wennington RJD 103.jpg
Junction at Hincaster

The Hincaster branch was a single-track railway branch line of the Furness Railway which ran from Arnside on the Furness main line to a junction with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (later the London and North Western Railway) at Hincaster. [1] Intermediate stations were provided at Sandside and Heversham, with the main engineering work being a substantial 26-arch viaduct over the River Bela near Sandside. [2]

Contents

Traffic

It was built primarily for use by mineral trains carrying coke and iron ore from County Durham to various ironworks in and around Barrow-in-Furness which had previously had to travel (and reverse) via the busy junction at Carnforth. [3] The branch was opened in 1876 and also carried a passenger service between Grange-over-Sands and Kendal known locally as the Kendal Tommy. [4]

Closure

The passenger service ended on 4 May 1942 and the track between Sandside and Hincaster Junction was lifted in 1966 (through traffic having ceased three years earlier). A short stub from Arnside to Sandside lasted until 1972 to serve local quarries.

Sections of the old trackbed survive and are used as a footpath and cycleway, though the viaduct and both intermediate stations have been demolished.

Ownership



Preceded by Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Succeeded by

Notes

  1. Conolly, 1997, p.24
  2. "Bela Viaduct" Old Cumbria Gazetteer; Retrieved 26 June 2017
  3. Marshall, p.104
  4. Heversham - A Website history by R.K Bingham www.heversham.org; Retrieved 2009-06-24

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References