Carlisle railway history

Congestion at the station increased over the years until in 1877 by-pass lines for goods traffic were provided, although the dispersed terminal facilities largely remained.

The city of Carlisle is in Cumbria in north-west England, at a strategic transport location at the crossing of the River Eden (of which it was the lowest bridging point).

Chapman's recommendation was subject to considerable controversy over the details of the route and the possible use of steam traction, and it was not until 22 May 1829 that the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was authorised by act of Parliament,[which?]

)[note 1][9] The Maryport and Carlisle passenger station was at Water Lane,[10][11] close to the present day St Nicholas Street.

The cramped Water Lane station was only a temporary measure, and the M&CR had acquired land at Crown Street for their intended permanent terminus.

The topography of the intervening land was challenging, with high ground of the Cumbrian Mountains and the Southern Uplands forming natural barriers.

The locomotives of the day were not considered capable of hauling trains on a trunk railway over the steep gradients thought to be unavoidable, and many creative schemes were put forward to route round the hilly country.

It was to form a Y-shape, connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh with Carlisle, and at the 122 miles in extent, was one of the largest railway projects authorised up to this date.

[note 3][1][11][2][19] The station was built in a grand style, designed by the architect William Tite, and it remained "quite unrivalled in the whole of the North West.

Victorian Tudor in style, its clock tower and lantern had on one side the nine-bay entrance arcade with elaborate buttressing and mullioned windows".

On Hudson taking control, however, he demanded £100,000, also threatening to build his own joint station near the site, further obstructing the L&CR.

[1][2][18][23] Finally on 28 October 1850 the through route was completed and the GD&CR and the Paisley company merged, forming the Glasgow and South Western Railway on the same day.

The new approach crossed the Canal line on the level; the M&CR were required to appoint a person to make signals at the passage of trains.

The short section from Scotch Dyke (two miles north of Longtown) to Citadel station at Carlisle was ready early in October 1861.

At this stage it emerged that the Board of Trade would not sanction opening of the NBR service unless the Caledonian Railway gave a guarantee that they would double the connecting line.

A station named Port Carlisle Junction was opened in July 1863; located at the convergence of the Silloth line and the Waverley route, it was designed to enable passenger connections between the two systems.

Meanwhile, North Eastern Railway trains from the Newcastle line used it to enter Citadel station from 1 January 1863, London Road being closed to passengers at this date.

Some relief was provided to the Carlisle congestion, but by this time the iron industry had gone into a temporary decline, and this ruined the financial viability of the railway company.

On 30 January 1881 ice floes on the Solway at the end of an exceptionally cold spell, seriously damaged the viaduct structure, which was out of use until repairs were completed in 1884.

The scheme had been brought forward at a time of cheap money, but there was a slump in the financial sector, and at the end of 1867 the Midland Railway directors responded to massive shareholder disquiet, and ordered suspension of work on the new line.

During the period between 1866 and the opening of the Settle and Carlisle line, there were abortive proposals to proceed with the improvement of Citadel station area, and the "difficulty" foreseen in the S&C bill took the form of persistent obstruction by the LNWR and the Caledonian, and the Board of Trade itself finally appointed an arbitrator, Joseph Cubitt, to make the necessary determination.

Unfortunately the arbitrator died before completing his work, and the situation proved so frustrating that the Midland presented its own Citadel Station Bill in an attempt to get a proper allocation fixed.

"[28]The start of the grouse season in 1900 occasioned exceptional traffic flows: On the night of August 10th, thirteen Scotch expresses left Euston and over 300 beds were made up in the trains for first class tourists only.

)[1] The Caledonian Railway goods depot was modernised and fully relocated to the west of the realigned northward main line, and new engine sheds were built at Kingmoor.

In 1866 the NBR had established its Dentonholme goods depot and opened it to the Midland Railway, although the Settle and Carlisle Line was not yet nearing readiness.

The multiple goods depot locations in the city resulted in a huge volume of inefficient transfer trip working traffic.

In fact the apparently simple geographical split brought numerous management inconsistencies, and a number of adjustments were subsequently made.

This line, from Longtown to Gretna, originally intended to give the NBR access to the G&SWR, had been closed to passenger trains on 8 August 1915[29] and only carried occasional goods traffic to ordnance depots.

[1][10] If the "modernisation" seemed to concentrate on closing facilities, a major step forward was the resignalling of the Carlisle station area with a modern power signal box early in 1973.

74 route miles of the West Coast Main Line were taken into its control area, together with stubs to fringe signal boxes on many branches.