Preston Street railway station

Preston Street railway station (also known as Newtown) was a railway station in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England.

Preston Street Newtwon
Location	Whitehaven, Copeland England
Coordinates	54°32′29″N 3°35′24″W
Grid reference	NX97251770
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Whitehaven & Furness Junction
Pre-grouping	Furness Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland & Scottish Railway
Key dates
19 July 1849	Opened
December 1855	Closed to passengers
19 May 1969	Closed for goods
5 June 1972	Re-opened as coal depot
c. 1995	Closed

Opened in July 1849 the station was the original terminus in Whitehaven of the Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway (W&FJ).[1][2]

The station was situated approximately 1,000 yards (914 m) south of the Whitehaven Junction Railway's terminus at Bransty (the current Whitehaven station). It was not until 1852 that a connecting line between the Whitehaven & Furness Junction's mainline from the south and the Whitehaven Junction's line from the north was made; this line did not pass through Preston Street but instead the W&FJ opened a new station at Corkickle.[2] A goods connection between the two termini did exist but involved reversing trains and using the numerous goods and colliery lines around Whitehaven harbour and on the streets of Whitehaven.[2]

In 1854 the two companies agreed to pool rolling stock and resources and concentrate all passenger traffic in Whitehaven at Bransty station and all goods traffic at Preston Street;[3] this reorganisation started in December 1855 and was noted as complete in February 1856.[4][5]

This remained the situation until 1969 when with freight revenues declining Preston Street was closed.[6] In 1972 the site reopened as a coal depot.[7] By the mid–1990s coal production in the Whitehaven area had ceased and all the pits closed and what traffic there was in coal was transferred to road transport with the final closure of Preston Street.[8]

References

Notes

1. "Whitehaven". Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser (50). 19 July 1849. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. McGowan Gradon (1946), p. 14.
3. McGowan Gradon (1946), p. 16.
4. "Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway". Cumberland Pacquet (4234). 11 December 1855. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Whitehaven Junction". Herapath's Journal. 18 (873). 1 March 1856. p. 261.
6. Clinker (1988), pp. 147, 179.
7. Clinker (1988), p. 179.
8. Edgar (2016), p. 71.

Sources

• Clinker, C.R. (1988). Clinker's Register of closed passenger stations and good depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1980 (2nd ed.). Weston-super-Mare: Avon-Anglia. ISBN 0-905466-91-8.
• Edgar, Gordon (2016). Industrial Locomotives & Railways of Cumbria. Amberley. ISBN 978-1445648330.
• McGowan Gradon, W. (1946). Furness Railway: It's rise and development 1846–1923. p. 14. OCLC 12353334.