Silloth railway station

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Silloth
Silloth station, 1951 (geograph 5323386).jpg
Silloth station, 1951
General information
Location Silloth, Cumberland
England
Coordinates 54°52′03″N3°23′21″W / 54.8676°N 3.3893°W / 54.8676; -3.3893
Grid reference NY109534
Platforms1 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyCarlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Company
Pre-grouping North British Railway
Post-grouping London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
4 September 1856Opened
7 September 1964 [12] Closed
Location
Location map United Kingdom Allerdale.svg
Red pog.svg
Silloth
Location in present-day Allerdale, Cumbria
Cumbria UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Silloth
Location in present-day Cumbria, England

Silloth was the terminus of the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, a branch railway from Carlisle, England. [13] The town, dock and station at Silloth were built on a greenfield site after the Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Act (1855) was passed. [14] The railway provision grew with the dock and its later additions. [15]

Contents

The station was opened in 1856 and closed by the Beeching axe on 7 September 1964, when it had been estimated in 1962 that the line was losing £23,500 a year and rising, staff costs had been pared to the bone and an imminent track bill of £32,500 was to be faced. [16]

Services

Sample timetables along the branch show typical routine patterns. [17] Unfortunately they are undated:

The Winter 1962–3 timetable [19] shows eight trains each way, Monday to Saturday, with a Saturday extra, as well as three trains on Sundays. The table strikes the eye as being simpler than earlier timetables with:

A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (right) railways in the vicinity of Silloth Castle Douglas Abbey Holme, Annan, Brayton & Kirkbride RJD 104.jpg
A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (right) railways in the vicinity of Silloth

The line was one of the first in the country to be dieselised, with one train a day remaining steam-hauled.

The branch was atypical in that from the 1880s successive owners had fostered a vigorous trade in "Specials", the cornerstone of which was Carlisle to Silloth and back for a shilling. This was backed by encouraging outings to Silloth by a wide range of customers such as Sunday schools, Temperance clubs and racegoers. [20] Many specials were both long and well-filled; [21] the longest ever was not a trippers' train, but a celebration train for the reopening of Carr's flour mill in 1905. [5]

Freight traffic, which had done well in wartime, [22] notably because it was on the north west coast, was following the pattern of the rest of the country - in decline. Four camping coaches were positioned here by the London Midland Region from 1956 to 1964. [23] There was insufficient shunting to justify keeping the small locoshed open after 6 July 1953 [24] [25] and erstwhile staple business such as flour traffic from Carr's Mill fell from £7000 to £100 per month, the business being lost to road competition. [26]

All tracks to and in Silloth had been removed by 1968. [27]

Redevelopment

The Allerdale council in northern England passed its final approval on a plan to demolish the remaining structure of the station on 8 December 2006. The development firm James Morgan Ltd. was awarded a contract to build new single-family housing on the property. Stuart Hinchliffe, director of the development firm also stated "We will be reinstating as much of the old railway platform as we can, to maintain Silloth’s Victorian history." [28]

See also

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References

  1. Robinson 1985, p. 34.
  2. Marsh & Garbutt 1999, p. 149.
  3. Robinson 2002, p. 41.
  4. Barbey 1955, p. 92.
  5. 1 2 Joy 1973, p. 58.
  6. Earnshaw 1990a, p. 173.
  7. Earnshaw 1990b, p. 233.
  8. Anderson 2004, p. 695.
  9. Robinson 2004, p. 22.
  10. Gammell 1994, p. 278.
  11. Hammond 2015, pp. 414 & 416.
  12. Quick 2009, p. 353.
  13. Jowett 1989, Map 36.
  14. Puxley 2009, p. 9.
  15. Puxley 2009, pp. 16, 32 & 44.
  16. Barker 2010, p. 426.
  17. Silloth timetables, via Cumbrian Railways Association
  18. Bradshaw 1985, p. 795.
  19. Barker 2010, p. 424.
  20. Thomlinson 1983, pp. 10–12.
  21. Cumbria 2000, p. 224.
  22. Silloth coal hoists, via YouTube
  23. McRae 1997, pp. 50 & 96.
  24. Griffiths & Smith 2000, p. 328.
  25. Hammond 2015, p. 416.
  26. Barker 2010, p. 425.
  27. Puxley 2009, p. 71.
  28. "Housing bid for town's derelict railway station". The Cumberland News. 8 December 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2006.

Sources

Further material

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Causewayhead
Line and station closed
  North British Railway
Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway
 Terminus