Moor Row railway station

Moor Row railway station was built by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway. It served the village of Moor Row, Cumbria, England.[8][9]

Moor Row
Moor Row station 1952
LocationMoor Row, Copeland
England
Coordinates54.5166°N 3.5387°W / 54.5166; -3.5387
Grid referenceNY004145
Platforms2[1][2][3][4]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyWhitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
Pre-groupingLNWR & FR Joint Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 July 1857Opened
7 January 1935Closed
11 March 1940Reopened to workmen's trains[5]
8 April 1940Closed
6 May 1946Reopened
16 June 1947Closed
1953Reopened for workmen's trains to Sellafield.
6 September 1965Closed[6][7]
Location
Moor Row
Location in present-day Copeland Borough
Moor Row
Location in present-day Cumbria
1904 railway junctions around Cleator Moor, Parton, Rowrah & Whitehaven

History

Moor Row became the Crewe of the Iron Moor. The station was valuable to villagers and workmen and as a place to change trains, but Moor Row's greater railway role was to be the hub of what rapidly became a dense network of primarily industrial lines tapping reserves of stone, coal and, above all, iron ore[10] in what had largely been a thinly populated area with generally modest agricultural potential.

The station opened to passengers on 1 July 1857 as the first stage of the network being developed from Whitehaven through Moor Row where it split, with one branch heading north east to Frizington and the other heading south to Egremont.[11] The route towards Frizington suffered subsidence problems, which were resolved by building two deviations. One was in the Eskett area, the other directly affected Moor Row, with the original line to Cleator Moor being downgraded to goods only when a wholly new line was opened in 1866, turning sharply north just beyond the engine shed, within sight of the eastern end of the station platforms.[12] A new passenger station was opened on the deviation - known locally as "The Bowthorn Line" - which was initially called plain Cleator Moor, but went on to be known as Cleator Moor East. The original and deviation lines parted east of Moor Row station and rejoined at Birks Bridge Junction north east of Cleator Moor village.

Over the next fifteen years both branches were extended: the northeasterly one beyond Frizington to Marron Junction and the southerly one beyond Egremont to Sellafield. At those end points both lines joined other lines with national connections. In traffic terms, even more important than reach was the striking number of quarries, mines and ironworks these lines spawned and tapped.

In July 1879 mineral traffic started on the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway, with a passenger service commencing on 1 October. This line headed north, leaving the Bowthorn Line at Cleator Moor Junction, 49 chains (0.99 km) from Moor Row station. It constituted the third and final route from Moor Row.

Trains were worked by a mixture of Furness Railway[13] and LNWR locomotives.[14]

An engine shed[15][16][17][18][19] and sidings flanked the station, with the junctions for the branches starting at the eastern end of the platforms.[20]

Services

By a long measure the dominant traffic and revenue earner through Moor Row was minerals, especially iron ore.

General goods traffic before the rise of road transport was substantial, the line to Marron Junction, for example, justified two trains per day, despite its remote, rural nature.

Passenger traffic and revenue were problematic. Most workers walked to work, workmen's trains were provided where shift working at remote sites took place, this moved numbers of people but earned little. Discretionary travel was slight, market day extras ran in many areas, Moor Row included, but the economics of a one-day per week 3rd Class extra was marginal at best.

Moor Row's passenger services in 1922 consisted of:

  • nine trains to Whitehaven, of which
  • a Saturdays Only Egremont to Whitehaven
  • three arrivals terminated at Moor Row with no onward connection
    • one from Sellafield on a Saturday evening
    • three from Workington Central (one of which arrived two minutes after a Whitehaven departure)
  • other arrivals followed a similar pattern to departures
  • there was no Sunday service[21]

A three times a day unadvertised workmen's service from Moor Row to Beckermet Mines began on 15 January 1912, calling at Woodend, Egremont and St Thomas Cross Platform.[22] It is not yet clear when this came to an end or if other workmen's services were provided.

An enthusiasts' special called on 5 September 1954.[23]

Run down and closures
Remains of platform at side of cycle track in 2005

The services to Workington Central[24] and Rowrah and beyond[25] were withdrawn on 13 April 1931, leaving the Sellafield-Egremont-Whitehaven route as Moor Row's sole remaining public passenger service; it was withdrawn on 7 January 1935.

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-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.[26] Special trains[27] and workmen's trains to Sellafield for the Nuclear Plant survived to get a mention in the Beeching Report.[28] They ended on 6 September 1965 when Moor Row station closed to passengers for good.[7]

Declining quantities of freight continued to pass through the station site.[29] The line south of Beckermet Quarry was taken out of use in January 1970, removing the possibility of diversionary or other through traffic to Sellafield and beyond.[30] The last train from Rowrah Quarry passed in February 1978.[31] The final traffic was iron ore from Beckermet Mine. The mine closed on 3 October 1980, with the line from the site to Corkickle through Moor Row closing on 1 November 1980, laying unused until it was lifted in 1993.[32][29]

Afterlife

In 2013 satellite images suggested that the station site is Public Open Space. The site of the adjacent sidings and locoshed were flattened but empty. By 2008 the trackbed had been transformed into part of National Cycle Route 71.[33]

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Cleator Moor West
Line and station closed		   Cleator and Workington Junction Railway   Terminus
Cleator Moor
1857-66		   Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway   Corkickle
Line closed, station open
Cleator Moor East
1866-1931		    
Woodend
Line and station closed		    

See also

References
  1. Quayle 2007, pp. 38 & 79.
  2. Anderson 2002, p. 311.
  3. Faulkner 2015, p. 458.
  4. Webb 1964a, p. 787.
  5. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 102.
  6. Butt 1995, p. 162.
  7. Quayle 2007, p. 87.
  8. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 26.
  9. Jowett 1989, Map 36.
  10. Anderson 2002, p. 309.
  11. Robinson 2002, p. 38.
  12. Hammond 2016, p. 15.
  13. McGowan Gradon 2004, p. 52.
  14. McGowan Gradon 2004, p. 12.
  15. Suggitt 2008, p. 51.
  16. Marsh & Garbutt 2002, p. 147.
  17. Griffiths & Smith 2000, p. 329.
  18. Robinson 1985, p. 68.
  19. Whitehouse 1969, p. 47.
  20. Allison 2020, p. 322.
  21. Bradshaw 1986, pp. 510 & 595.
  22. Robinson 1989, p. 39.
  23. Welbourn 2010, p. 111.
  24. Anderson 2002, p. 316.
  25. Butt 1995, pp. 43 & 200.
  26. Marshall 1981, p. 116.
  27. Marshall 1981, Opposite p. 143.
  28. Suggitt 2008, p. 56.
  29. Broughton & Harris 1985, Carlisle-Barrow chapter.
  30. Quayle 2007, p. 88.
  31. Marshall 1981, p. 163.
  32. Quayle 2007, p. 89.
  33. Suggitt 2008, p. 60.

Sources
  • Allison, Ron (October 2020). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Proud Station Master". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 13 (8). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • 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).
  • Bradshaw (1986) [1922]. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint). Guild Publishing London.
  • Broughton, John; Harris, Nigel (October 1985). British Railways Past and Present: No. 1 Cumbria. Silver Link Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-947971-04-1.
  • 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.
  • Faulkner, Mike (October 2015). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Moor Row Signalbox No. 2". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 11 (12). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (2000). The Directory of British Engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 2 North Midlands, Northern England and Scotland. OPC Railprint. ISBN 978-0-86093-548-3. OCLC 59558605.
  • Hammond, John M. (February 2016). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Signal Box Records: Moor Row Nos 1, 2 & 3". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 12 (1). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • 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.
  • Marsh, John; Garbutt, John (April 2002). Images of Cumbrian Railways. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-2834-4.
  • 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. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, via Lancaster: Dalesman Books. ISBN 0-85206-815-8.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (February 1989). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Workmen's Trains to Beckermet Mines". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 4 (3). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • 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).
  • Welbourn, Nigel (September 2010). Lost Lines: Joint Railways. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3428-0.
  • Whitehouse, P.B. (1969). Steam on the Shed. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-0080-3.

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.
  • Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-11-2.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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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