Clifton and Lowther railway station

Coordinates: 54°37′06″N 2°42′47″W / 54.618276°N 2.713119°W

Clifton & Lowther
Advanced Passenger Train southbound approaching the site of the station in 1986
Location
Place	Clifton
Area	Eden
Operations
Original company	Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2
History
17 December 1846	Opened as Clifton
1 February 1887	renamed Clifton & Lowther
4 July 1938	Closed[1]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
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For the station on the Eden Valley Railway line see Clifton Moor railway station

Clifton railway station, later known as Clifton and Lowther railway station was a station on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway south of Penrith near to the village of Clifton.

It opened in 1846, and briefly acted as the terminus of the Eden Valley railway from its opening in 1862 until 1863, when a new northwards chord was built, along with Clifton Moor railway station.^[2]

In 1887 the station was renamed Clifton and Lowther,^[2] it closed for passenger services in 1938, and to freight in 1951.^[3]

The Railway Magazine described the station, referring to it as Lowther station:

We cannot regard Lowther Railway Station, on the London and North-Western line, as absolutely a private station, but the Earl of Lonsdale, who is the great territorial feudal lord of the district of Cumberland that stretches about Penrith and Askham, has a private agreement with the railway authorities in virtue of which, for certain concessions made with regard to building the station, the land it stands on, etc., he, his family, and guests have the right to have any train stopped at any required times at Lowther Station, whether such trains are expresses or not, and whether they may be timed to stop near or far from Lowther Station.

It will easily be seen, therefore, that, such a "right" is tantamount in many ways to owning a private railway station, with the additional advantage that somebody else keeps up the maintenance of the place! Yet "Clifton and Lowther Station" is open to the public, and so is not absolutely a "private" station.

The Earl and his family often exercise their right, and the German Emperor, when visiting his friend Lord Lonsdale, has more than once also availed himself of the privilege of detraining at Lowther. It is a station right nobly appointed, and right royally situated, for it lies in the very midst of some of the finest scenery in England. Lord Lonsdale, moreover, is a landlord and nobleman of the old type, who does everything pertaining to his station and duties as a "grand seigneur" in a way above all criticism and cavil. You may be sure that Lowther Station, therefore, is all such a railway station should be.^[4]

References

1. Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
2. The Eden Valley and Stainmore Railway - Clifton & Lowther Station , Reprint of an article from The Railway Magazine : "A Forgotten Junction in Westmorland" , M.D. Greville, G.O. Holt , via www.cumbria-railways.co.uk
3. Clifton and Lowther www.disused-stations.rog.uk
4. George A Wade, Private Railway Stations, in the Railway Magazine, November 1903

Further reading

• Mannex, P.J. (1849) History, topography, and directory, of Westmorland: and Lonsdale north of the sands, in Lancashire together with a descriptive and geological view of the whole of the Lake district, "Railways" pp. 51–54, discovery of Roman altar during construction of Clifton station p.54 via books.google.co.uk