Beckermet railway station is a disused rail station located in the village of
Beckermet
Beckermet is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, between Egremont and Seascale. The parish had a population of 1,619 in the 2011 census.
Historically in Cumberland, it is served by Braystones railway station and is less than a ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
.
Tracks were laid southwards from
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...
and
Moor Row as far as
Egremont by the
Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
The Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a standard gauge railway in Cumberland, England intended to open up the hematite orefield to the south-east of Whitehaven. It opened for go ...
, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857.
By the 1860s, the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway company sought to extend southwards from Egremont to meet the coastal line at , aiming for Millom, Barrow-in-Furness and beyond. The
Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway
The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness line) via Ulverston ...
company opposed this, so the two companies came to an accommodation and built the Egremont to Sellafield extension as a joint line. Beckermet was the sole intermediate passenger station on the extension.
The station was on the western edge of the village in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, England.
History
The line to Egremont was one of the fruits of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the nineteenth century, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857. Egremont remained as the railway's southern terminus until 1869 when the company, in partnership with the
Furness Railway
The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.
History
Formation
In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...
, built a southern extension from Egremont to the coast line at , with an intermediate station at Beckermet. This enabled traffic from the Cleator Moor and Rowrah areas, especially iron ore, to move much more readily southwards.
Services
In 1922 five northbound passenger trains left Beckermet, two connected with trains to at , all the others continued there without a change. A Saturdays Only evening train terminated at Moor Row. The southbound service was similar. There were no Sunday trains.
The LNWR and Furness Joint Railway divided traffic responsibilities so that passenger traffic through the station was usually worked by the Furness Railway.
Goods traffic was typical of an industrial area, sustaining sidings and goods depots long after passenger services were withdrawn.
Mineral traffic was the dominant flow, though this was subject to considerable fluctuation with trade cycles. A considerable amount of iron ore travelled south through Beckermet bound for the furnaces of Millom and Barrow-in-Furness.
Stations and signalling along the line south of Rowrah were changed during the Joint regime to conform to Furness Railway standards.
Rundown and closure
The station closed on 7 January 1935 when normal passenger traffic ended along the line.
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.
A public Sellafield-Egremont-Beckermet-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. It was never reinstated.
Workmen's trains to Sellafield ended on 6 September 1965.
Remarkably, a wholly new unadvertised passenger service started in September 1964, conveying pupils to Wyndham School in Egremont from in the morning then home after school. Initially this comprised eight steam-hauled carriages, ending typically formed of a pair of Derby Lightweight 2-car units. Sources differ on when this service ended:- 3 March 1969 or 11 December 1969. Sources are silent on whether this called at Beckermet or passed straight through.
See also
*
Furness Railway
The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.
History
Formation
In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...
*
Cleator and Workington Junction Railway
The Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for t ...
*
Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
The Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a standard gauge railway in Cumberland, England intended to open up the hematite orefield to the south-east of Whitehaven. It opened for go ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The station on overlain OS maps surveyed from 1898, via ''National Library of Scotland''*
ttps://www.railscot.co.uk/Whitehaven_Cleator_and_Egremont_Railway/index.php Map of the line with photos, via ''RAILSCOT''br>
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''
{{Closed stations Cumbria
Disused railway stations in Cumbria
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1947
1857 establishments in England