Wigton is a railway station on the

Cumbrian Coast Line The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle railway station, Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furnes ...

, which runs between and via . The station, situated south-west of Carlisle, serves the village of

Wigton Wigton is a market town in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just outside the Lake District in the borough of Allerdale. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells an ...

, Allerdale 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. 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 ...

History

The station was opened by the

Maryport and Carlisle Railway The Maryport & Carlisle Railway (M&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1836 which built and operated a small but eventually highly profitable railway to connect Maryport and Carlisle in Cumbria, England. There were many small collieries ...

on 10 May 1843, following the completion of the route from Carlisle. It would act as a temporary terminus until the opening of the line heading south-west towards Aspatria in 1845. It subsequently become the junction station for the eastern end of the loop to

Mealsgate Mealsgate is a village in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland. Location Mealsgate is situated on the old Roman Road between Carlisle and the Roman fort of Derventio at Papcastle . This road is now known as the A595. Mealsgate i ...

from 1878. This portion of the route did not prove profitable, and the single daily return passenger service was withdrawn by the Maryport and Carlisle Railway in 1921. Goods facilities at the station were withdrawn by British Rail in October 1970. A private siding for the nearby plastics factory remains in place, but this has been disused for a number of years. The station's signal box is still operational, and acts as a fringe to Carlisle PSB. In December 2018, the Victorian-era footbridge connecting the platforms was deemed unsafe by Network Rail, and access to it was prohibited. The bridge was removed in March 2019 for repairs, and reinstalled in July 2019.

Facilities

Wigton is one of the mandatory stops on this part of the

, along with and . As with most other stations on the line, it is unstaffed, and has been so since 1969. The two side platforms here are slightly offset and linked by a footbridge. A ticket machine is now in service to allow intending travellers to buy before boarding. There are waiting shelters on both platforms, but the surviving station buildings are no longer in railway use. Step-free access is available to each platform, whilst train running information is provided by display screens, telephone and timetable posters.

Services

Following the May 2021 timetable change, the station is served by an hourly service between and , with some trains continuing to . During the evening, the station is served by an hourly service between Carlisle and Whitehaven. All services are operated by

. Rolling stock used: Class 153 Super ''Sprinter'', Class 156 ''Super Sprinter'' and Class 158 ''Express Sprinter'' In May 2018, Northern introduced a Sunday service between and Barrow-in-Furness, the first Sunday service to operate south of Whitehaven for over 40 years.

References

External links

* * {{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Railway stations in Cumbria DfT Category F1 stations Former Maryport and Carlisle Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1843 Northern franchise railway stations 1843 establishments in England Wigton