Bridgefoot railway station

Bridgefoot
Site of station in 1961
Location
Place	Bridgefoot
Area	Allerdale
Coordinates	54°39′01″N 3°27′44″W / 54.6503°N 3.4623°W / 54.6503; -3.4623Coordinates: 54°39′01″N 3°27′44″W / 54.6503°N 3.4623°W / 54.6503; -3.4623
Grid reference	NY057293
Operations
Original company	Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
Pre-grouping	LNWR & FR Joint Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2[1]
History
2 April 1866	Opened
13 April 1931	Closed[2]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

A 1904 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (right) railways in the vicinity of the station site

Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont Railway
Legend
Cleator and Workington Junction Railway Cumbrian Coast Line to Carlisle Cockermouth and Workington Railway Marron Junction Workington Central Workington Main Bridgefoot Harrington Parton Halt Branthwaite Distington Gilgarran Branch Distington Works Ullock Parton Lamplugh Rowrah Whitehaven Summit Winder Whitehaven Tunnel Yeathouse Corkickle Eskett Eskett Junction Mirehouse Junction Frizington Moor Row Cleator Moor West Cleator Moor East St Bees Cleator Moor(first) Woodend St Bees Golf Halt Gillfoot Egremont Nethertown St Thomas Cross Platform Beckermet Mines Braystones Beckermet Sellafield Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness

Bridgefoot railway station was built by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway. It served the village of Bridgefoot, Cumbria, England.^[3][4]

History

The station opened on 2 April 1866. The owning company was taken over by the LNWR and Furness Railway in 1879 as a Joint Line, whereafter the northern section through Bridgefoot was usually worked by the LNWR.^[5]

Passenger traffic consisted of three trains a day in each direction, with an extra on Whitehaven market day and none on Sundays.^[6] From opening, northbound passenger trains terminated at Marron Junction station where passengers changed for destinations beyond. In 1897 Marron Junction station closed, with trains running west through to Workington Main thereafter, a much better arrangement for most passengers. Passengers who would otherwise have changed at Marron Junction to head east to Brigham or beyond simply changed at the first stop after Marron Junction - Camerton.

Goods traffic typically consisted of a two daily turns Up and Down.

Mineral traffic was the dominant flow, typically six loaded and six empty through to Workington, though this was subject to considerable fluctuation with trade cycles. Stations and signalling along the line north of Rowrah were changed during the Joint regime to conform to LNWR standards.^[7][8]

The station closed on 13 April 1931 when normal passenger traffic ended along the line. Goods trains continued to pass through the station until 1954.^[9] An enthusiasts' special ran through on 5 September 1954. After scant occasional use the line was abandoned in 1960 and subsequently lifted.

Afterlife

In 2013 the course of the line through the village was clear to see and the trackbed to the south had been made into a public footpath.

See also

• Cockermouth and Workington Railway
• Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway

References

Sources

• Atterbury, Paul (2009). Along Lost Lines. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-2706-2. 
• Bradshaw (1986) [1922]. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint). Guild Publishing London. 
• 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 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
• 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137. 
• 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. 

Further reading

• British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. 
• 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). 
• 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. 
• Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 094653702X. 
• 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. 
• Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8003 6. 
• Western, Robert (2001). The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway OL113. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-564-0. 

External links

• Map of the line with photos, via RAILSCOT
• The station on overlain OS maps surveyed from 1898, via National Library of Scotland
• The closed station on a 1948 OS Map, via npe maps
• The station, via Rail Map Online
• The railways of Cumbria, via Cumbrian Railways Association
• Photos of Cumbrian railways, via Cumbrian Railways Association
• The railways of Cumbria, via Railways_of_Cumbria
• Cumbrian Industrial History, via Cumbria Industrial History Society
• The line's and station's Engineer's Line References, via railwaycodes.org.uk
• Furness Railtour using many West Cumberland lines 5 September 1954, via sixbellsjunction
• A video tour-de-force of the region's closed lines, via cumbriafilmarchive