Silloth railway station

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]

Silloth
Silloth station, 1951
LocationSilloth, Allerdale
England
Coordinates54.8676°N 3.3893°W / 54.8676; -3.3893
Grid referenceNY109534
Platforms1[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyCarlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Company
Pre-groupingNorth British Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
4 September 1856Opened
7 September 1964[12]Closed
Location
Silloth
Location in present-day Allerdale, Cumbria
Silloth
Location in present-day Cumbria, England

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 first does not show Abbey Junction, suggesting it is after 1 September 1921, nor does it mention the North British, so it may be 1923-1932, when the branch to Port Carlisle closed
  • the second matches Bradshaw in 1922[18]
  • the third is from British Railways days.

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:

  • all trains 2nd Class only
  • a much better service to Blackdyke Halt
  • no through trains beyond Carlisle
  • Drumburgh had closed in 1955.
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

References
  1. Robinson 1985, p. 34.
  2. Marsh & Garbutt 1999, p. 149.
  3. Robinson 2002, p. 41.
  4. Barbey 1955, p. 92.
  5. 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
  • Anderson, David (November 2004). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "The Port Carlisle and Silloth Branch Lines". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet Publications (183). ISSN 0269-0020.
  • Barbey, M.F. (February 1955). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "From Carlisle to Silloth". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 101 (646). ISSN 0033-8923.
  • Barker, Oswald J. (August 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "Branch line to Silloth". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (9). ISSN 1360-2098.
  • Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
  • Cumbria, Confederation of Women's Institutes (2000) [1994]. Cumbria Within Living Memory. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-301-5.
  • Earnshaw, Alan (July 1990a). Jenkinson, David (ed.). "The Silloth Branch - Part 1". Back Track. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. 4 (4). ISSN 0955-5382.
  • Earnshaw, Alan (September 1990b). Jenkinson, David (ed.). "The Silloth Branch - Part 2". Back Track. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. 4 (5). ISSN 0955-5382.
  • Gammell, C. J. (May 1994). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "Just a few lines... Cumbria". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet Publications (57). ISSN 0269-0020.
  • 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. (August 2015). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Beeching Plan and the Closure of the Carlisle-Silloth Branch". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 11 (11). 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.
  • Joy, David (1973). Railways of the Lake Counties. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85206-200-5.
  • McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
  • Marsh, John; Garbutt, John (1999). Cumbrian Railways. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7509-2043-8.
  • Puxley, Chris (2009). The Port of Silloth 1858 - 2009: A Pictorial History Through 150 Years of a Solway Port. Portishead, Somerset: Bernard McCall. ISBN 978-1-902953-42-7.
  • 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.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-205-6.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (2004) [1986]. Rail Centres No. 6 - Carlisle. Nottingham: Booklaw Publications. ISBN 978-1-901945-16-4.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-815-1.
  • Thomlinson, G. (May 1983). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Rails on the Solway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (14). ISSN 1466-6812.

Further material
  • Bazley, Basil M. (August 1953). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Carlisle in 1905". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 99 (628). ISSN 0033-8923.
  • Easdown, Martin (2009). Lancashire's Seaside Piers. Barnsley: Wharncliffe Books. ISBN 978-1-84563-093-5.
  • Edgar, Stuart; Sinton, John H. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway. Catrine: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-395-4. LP176.
  • Mullay, Alexander J. (2006). Rails Across the Border. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-3666-1.
  • Oatway, Jim (2003) [1964]. Cumberland Glory (DVD). Ultimate Archive Steam. Uffington, Shropshire: B&R Video Productions. Vol 44.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (August 1995). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Maryport & Carlisle 150". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 5 (12). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
  • Walton, John K. (1979). "Railways and Resort Development in Victorian England: The Case of Silloth". Northern History. Leeds: University of Leeds, School of History. 15 (1). ISSN 0078-172X.
  • 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.
  • White, Stephen (1984). Solway Steam: The Story of the Silloth and Port Carlisle Railways, 1854-1964. Carlisle: Carel Press Limited. ISBN 978-0-9509096-1-5.
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Causewayhead
Line and station closed		   North British Railway
Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway		   Terminus
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