Marron Junction railway station

Marron Junction
Location
Place	Bridgefoot
Area	Allerdale
Coordinates	54°39′26″N 3°27′56″W / 54.6573°N 3.4656°WCoordinates: 54°39′26″N 3°27′56″W / 54.6573°N 3.4656°W
Grid reference	NY055301
Operations
Original company	Cockermouth & Workington Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	3[1]
History
2 April 1866	Opened
1 July 1897	Closed to regular passenger traffic
after 1923	Closed completely[2][3]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

A 1904 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (right) railways in the vicinity of the station site

An 1882 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing railways in the area

Cockermouth and Workington Railway
Legend
Cumbrian Coast Line Workington Main Cleator and Workington Junction Railway Workington Central Workington Bridge River Derwent (three crossings) Camerton River Derwent (two crossings) Marron Junction Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway River Marron Broughton Cross Brigham Maryport and Carlisle Railway Cockermouth (C&W) later Cockermouth goods station Cockermouth(CK&P) Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway

Marron Junction railway station was a later addition to the Cockermouth and Workington Railway. It opened on 2 April 1866 with a single, eastbound, platform when the adjacent Marron Junction opened, two months before the company was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway.

In 1874 an island platform was added to the south of the main east-west line, opposite the single eastbound platform. giving three platform faces.^[1]

History

Marron Junction joined the west-east Workington to Cockermouth (later through to Penrith) line with the then new south-north Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway line from Rowrah. The junction was in open country. It had a substantial triangular layout with an engine shed inside the south-to-east arm. Both the west-to-east and south-to-west arms bridged the River Marron. Marron Junction station was immediately west of the junction's northwestern apex. The triangular layout warranted three signalboxes, one at each apex.

This isolated rural location was further complicated by a branch to Linefitz Colliery running from the west and bisecting the south-to-east arm of the triangle, similarly to Earlestown.^[4]

The station was bounded by the River Derwent to the north and was not near any town or village. It was intended as an exchange station for passengers crossing between the east-west and south-north lines. South-north trains terminated at Marron Junction station, from which passengers could travel west or east. The value of this arrangement hinged on the connections.

The station attracted little custom other than railwaymen whose duties took them to Marron Junction.

The station closed to regular passenger traffic in 1897. From then on the south-north trains from Rowrah continued through to Workington Main, an altogether more satisfactory service for its users. Passengers wishing to travel south to east stayed on to the next stop west of the junction - Camerton - and crossed to the other platform to head east.

Although Marron Junction station closed in 1897 railwaymen continued to use it as an unadvertised halt until after 1923.^[5]

The south-to-east curve at Marron junction was closed on 1 October 1902.^[6] This rendered the south and east signalboxes redundant. The western 'box was replaced to befit its singular role. Normal passenger traffic ended along the south to west curve on 13 April 1931, with normal goods traffic following in 1954.^[7] An enthusiasts' special ran south-to-west on 5 September 1954. After scant occasional use the south-to-west line was abandoned in 1960.

Afterlife

By 2015 Marron Junction triangle was readily discernible on satellite images online. The station site appeared to be a footpath through ribbons of trees.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Broughton Cross Line and station closed		London and North Western Railway Cockermouth & Workington Railway		Camerton Line and station closed
Bridgefoot Line and station closed		Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway

See also

• Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway

References

1. Bowtell 1996, p. 32.
2. Butt 1995, p. 155.
3. Quick 2009, p. 268.
4. Bowtell 1996, p. 30.
5. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 100.
6. Quayle 2007, p. 78.
7. Marshall 1981, p. 163.

Sources

• Bowtell, Harold D. (December 1996). Rails through Lakeland, Volume 1: The Line Described. Kettering: Silver Link Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85794-066-0.
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, Roger W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places X 43. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0 85361 281 1.
• Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8003 6.
• Quayle, Howard (2007). Whitehaven: The Railways and Waggonways of a Unique Cumberland Port. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-5-6.
• Quick, Michael (September 2009). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology. Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5.

Further reading

• British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
• Anderson, Paul (April 2002). Hawkins, Chris, ed. "Dog in the Manger? The Track of the Ironmasters". British Railways Illustrated (Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd) 11 (7).
• Bairstow, Martin (April 1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-11-2.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Joy, David (December 1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 14). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 094653702X.
• McGowan Gradon, William (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway. Grange-over-Sands: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 0-9540232-2-6.
• Marsh, John; Garbutt, John (April 2002). Images of Cumbrian Railways. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-2834-4.
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978 0 7110 3695 6.
• Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
• Welbourn, Nigel (September 2010). Lost Lines: Joint Railways. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3428-0.
• Western, Robert (2001). The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway OL113. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-564-0.
• Wignall, C.J. (November 1985). Complete British Railways Maps and Gazetteer from 1825 to 1985. OPC Railprint. ISBN 0-86093-294-X.

External links

• Map of the line with photos, via RAILSCOT
• The station on overlain OS maps surveyed from 1898, via National Library of Scotland
• 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
• Local history of the CKPR route, via Cockermouth
• The line's and station's Engineer's Line References, via railwaycodes.org.uk
• A video tour-de-force of the region's closed lines, via cumbriafilmarchive
• Furness Railtour using many West Cumberland lines 5 September 1954, via sixbellsjunction
• McGowan Gradon's 1942 Furness Railway study, via cumberlandarchives.co.uk