Clapham is a railway station on the
Bentham Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the village of
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
in
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
. It is owned by
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
and managed by
Northern Trains
Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...
.
Immediately to the east of the station, the line crosses the
River Wenning
The River Wenning is a tributary of the River Lune, flowing through North Yorkshire and Lancashire.
The Wenning is formed from the confluence of Clapham Beck, which rises above Clapham, and Austwick Beck, which rises in Crummackdale above Aus ...
on a tall, eight-span viaduct.
The station was formerly known in the national timetable as ''Clapham (Yorkshire)'', to distinguish it from ''Clapham (London).'' The latter was renamed
''Clapham High Street'' in 1989.
History
The station was opened by the
"little" North Western Railway
The North Western Railway (NWR) was an early British railway company in the north-west of England. It was commonly known as the "Little" North Western Railway, to distinguish it from the larger London and North Western Railway (LNWR).
The NWR w ...
(NWR) on 30 July 1849 on their line from
Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Ai ...
to
Ingleton and became a junction the following year when the link along the Wenning Valley from
Bentham was completed on 1 June 1850 to finish the route from
Lancaster to Skipton.
The Ingleton route was subsequently extended northwards, as the
Ingleton Branch Line, through
Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 ...
and
Sedbergh
Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. The 2001 census gave the parish a population of 2,705, increasing at the 2011 census to 2,765. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies about east of Kendal, nor ...
to join the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
at (near
Tebay
Tebay is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic borders of Westmorland. It lies in the upper Lune Valley, at the head of the Lune Gorge. The parish had a population of 728 in the 2001 census, increasing to 776 at th ...
) by the
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&C) in 1861, but disagreements between the L&C's successor, the
London and North Western Railway, and the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
(who had leased the NWR in 1859) over running rights and the subsequent construction of the
Settle-Carlisle Line, meant that it never became the major Anglo-Scottish route that the NWR had originally intended.
The Ingleton Branch was closed to passenger traffic on 1 February 1954 and completely in July 1966, although regular goods traffic had ended some months earlier. Lifting of the track followed in April 1967. A sharp curve (with a permanent 35 mph speed restriction) marks the site of the former junction, immediately west of the station.
The station ceased to handle goods traffic in 1968, when the remaining sidings were taken out of use & dismantled and the station
signal box closed. It then became an unstaffed halt in October 1970 - the old station house still stands, but is now a private residence.
The proximity of the old station platforms to the Wenning viaduct (and resulting safety concerns due to the steep drop) saw infrastructure operator Railtrack change the layout here in 1998. The eastern platform was refurbished, resurfaced and shortened at its eastern end, whilst a new wooden westbound platform was constructed on the opposite side of the footbridge to its predecessor (which was then demolished) and the bridge steps modified. As a result, the station is similar to neighbouring in having a wooden platform for westbound trains and a stone one for eastbound services.
Facilities
Waiting shelters are present on each platform, along with train information notice boards, but there are no toilets. At present, no ticket machine is available, so tickets can only be purchased on the train or in advance. The footbridge linking the platforms does not have ramps, so the westbound (trains heading towards Lancaster) platform is not accessible for disabled passengers: step-free access is possible on the eastbound (trains heading towards Leeds) side.
Northern Rail have successfully applied for planning permission to install a ticket machine and electronic train departure boards, and also to provide a public toilet on the eastbound platform. The ticket machine and PIS displays were due to be installed in 2019, but as of 2021, only the PIS displays have been installed.
Services
Service improvements were introduced in the May 2019 timetable. There are now eight trains each way Mondays to Saturdays and five trains each way on Sundays. Most trains run between Leeds and Morecambe, but some early morning and evening services terminate at Lancaster. The first Monday to Saturday westbound train starts from Skipton and the last Monday to Saturday eastbound train terminates there.
There is no longer a through service to Heysham Port on weekdays, though one is to commence on Sundays only at the December 2019 timetable change.
Northern Timetable 7 - Leeds to Carlisle/Morecambe and Heysham Port, 15 December 2019 – 16 February 2020
Retrieved 13/ November 2019
References
Bibliography
* Binns, D (1982) ''The 'Little' North Western Railway'', Wyvern Publishing, Skipton.
* Marshall, J (1981) ''Forgotten Railways North-West England'', David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Newton Abbott.
External links
{{Railway stations served by Northern Trains
Craven District
DfT Category F2 stations
Railway stations in North Yorkshire
Former Midland Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849
Northern franchise railway stations
Forest of Bowland
1849 establishments in England