Grayrigg railway station

Grayrigg railway station
Location
Place	Grayrigg
Area	South Lakeland
Coordinates	54°21′31″N 2°37′09″W / 54.3585°N 2.6191°WCoordinates: 54°21′31″N 2°37′09″W / 54.3585°N 2.6191°W
Grid reference	SD598960
Operations
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2
History
1849	first station opened
November 1861	resited
1 February 1954	Closed to passengers
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Grayrigg railway station in Lambrigg parish, was situated on the course of the original Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) (the West Coast Main Line) between Lancaster and Penrith. It served the village and rural district of Grayrigg, Cumbria, England. The new station opened in November 1861, and closed on 1 February 1954^[1] replacing the L&CR station that was located 3.22km west of the station and closed in 1849.^[1]

Lancaster & Carlisle Railway
Legend
Caledonian Main Line Carlisle Citadel Maryport & Carlisle Rly Tyne Valley Line & Settle-Carlisle Line Brisco Wreay Southwaite Calthwaite Plumpton Penrith Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway Clifton Moor Eden Valley Railway Clifton and Lowther Shap Shap Summit 914 ft  279 m  South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway Tebay Low Gill Ingleton Branch Line Grayrigg Kendal & Windermere Railway Oxenholme Hincaster Branch Milnthorpe Burton and Holme Furness & Midland Jnt Rly Ulverstone & Lancaster Railway Carnforth Bolton-le-Sands Hest Bank Morecambe Branch Line "Little" North Western Railway Glasson Dock Branch Lancaster Castle Lancaster (Greaves) Lancaster & Preston Junction Railway

The station

The scene at the Grayrigg derailment.

The station had two platforms, a signal box to the north and a station master's house. The goods yard had a weighing machine and a coal yard.^[2] The much modified station house survives, the platforms have however been demolished and the line has been electrified. An electricity supply sub-station is located here and the railway becomes triple track here for a distance running north.

The old Ingleton Branch Line's Low Gill Viaduct lay nearby. This line was completed in 1861 and served the towns of Ingleton, Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh. It closed to passengers in 1954 and was dismantled in 1967.^[3]

The Grayrigg derailment

A fatal railway accident occurred on 23 February 2007, just to the south of Grayrigg. The derailment was caused by a faulty set of points controlled from the Lambrigg ground frame. The points which caused the derailment, and points on the opposite line, were removed from the track following the derailment. The track is now welded continuously for 2.2 miles here, including the line over the Docker Viaduct. The overhead line equipment had to be replaced, double-line catenary from a single stand being used.

Stations on the line

The next station on the line towards Carlisle was Low Gill and the preceding station was Oxenholme.

References

Notes

1. Butt 1995, p. 108
2. Old Maps Retrieved : 2012-09-15
3. Butt, Page 207

Sources

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory Of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7.

External links

• Old Cumbria Gazetteer
• Time Capsules - station photograph