Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway. Part one: Cockermouth to Keswick
Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway
Part one: Cockermouth to Keswick
46458+46426 leaving Cockermouth 02-04-66
John Boyes. Armstrong railway photographic trust. www.arpt51a.com. No authourised use.
Introduction
The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway (CK&PR for short) was a railway in North West England that linked the town of Cockermouth with Penrith on the West Coast mainline. There were 10 stations on the line with one of the most noteble being Keswick. Permission to build the railway was granted in 1861 when an act of parliament was passed with work starting in May 1862. By the early summer of 1864 inspection trains had ran for the directors of the line. It officaly opened to goods traffic on the 1st of Novemember 1864 and for passengers on the 2nd of January 1865, although passenger trains for an agricultrial show had ran on the 29th of September 1864.
The railway had support from the London & North Western Railway and the Stockton & Darlington railway (later North Eastern railway). The Stockton & Darlington railway ran through trains from Workington to Teesside carrying Iron Ore for the steels works along with coal and coke trains from the Durham coal fields to Workington. This was made possible by a connection with the Stainmore Route near Penrith. The London & North Western Railway controlled the passenger and goods trains. The LNWR was absorbed into the London Midland & Scottish railway during the 1923 grouping. The LMS became part of British Railways in 1948 who ran the railway till its closure.
Cockermouth
Cockermouth already had a station on the "Cockermouth & Workington Railway" which opened in 1847. This station closed to passengers when the CK&PR station opened in 1865. For a time trains from Penrith connetcted with Cockermouth & Workington Railway trains at the new joint station. But, by April of 1865 trains were timetabled to run through to Workington and then onto Whiteheaven.
The original Cockermouth station remained open as the towns goods station till closure in 1964. The two road engine shed that existed here was extended and repurposed and became the goods station. Today the site of this station is now occupied by "The Lakes Home centre".
The trackbed from the Workington direction can still be seen running alongside "Low Road" but after a short distance the A66 towards Workington uses the formation. The trackbed heading towards the 2nd Cockermouth station can be followed from behind the car park of the adjacent Aldi store as far as Sullart Street. A carpark has been built on the trackbed here. From here the course of the railway passed under what is today the A5086/ Gallowbarrow and reached the towns 2nd station (pictured above).
The station had 3 platforms with the main station building being located on the "up" platform. The station also had a single road engine shed, turntable and 2 track coach shed. There was also a large cattle dock located behind the main station building. The station closed in 1966 and was demolished during the early 1970s. From 1984 till 2012 the Cumbria fire & rescue service occupied the site. The area is now for sale for redevelopment. The above shot taken in the late summer of 2020 shows the site of the station looking in the direction of Keswick.
The road over bridge that carries the Lorton road over the railway looking towards Keswick.
Today a section of trackbed from the station site heading in the direction of Keswick has been preserved as a footpath. The path crosses the old railway bridge which carried the railway over the River Cocker. A number of old railway bridges still stand on this section. The path extends as far as Sandy beck way where the trackbed is now private farm land.
Looking along the trackbed from the end of the footpath in the direction of Strawberry How.
The above section of trackbed is now private farmland. A short distance from Strawberry How farm the trackbed has been built on and is now occupied by the A66 road. The A66 occupied the trackbed from near Strawberry Howe as far just outside Braithwaite on the outskirts of Keswick.
Embleton
The next station on the line was Embleton (Lambfoot). It opened in 1865 and served the small villiage of Embleton. The station had one platform with a station building of a similiar design to others on the line. The goods yard was located behind the station and had a saw mill and timber yard along with two sidings. The timber yard and saw mill were expanded during the 1920s and the track layout was changed to include a more complex track layout. British rail also stationed a pair of camping coaches here during the 1950s. By this time the goods yard had been reduced back to two sidings. The station closed in 1958 and was demolished to make way for the A66 road. The stations masters house still stands.
Between Embleton & Bassenthwaite lake there was Embleton Quarry siding which served Embleton Quarry which lay above the village on the top of Seathwaite How. The remains of the Quarry can still be seen to this day.
The station masters house in 2020
Bassenthwaite Lake
LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46449, is the Saturday 10.15 Manchester Victoria to Workington. Ben Brooksbank Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0
The next stop on the way towards Keswick was Bassenthwaite lake. Although some early OS Maps show the station as named "Peel Wyke" after a small Hamlet located near to the station. The station was located between the Pheasant Inn, a 17th century coaching inn and the small village of Dubwath.
The station had two platforms and the station building was of a similar design to others on the line and included a post office (added in 1910), ladies and general waiting rooms and of course a booking office. The Keswick/Penrith platform had a wooden shelter. Behind this platform was the stations goods yard. There was also a signal box, houses for the crossing keeper and station master and a railwaymans cottage. During the 1950s a number of camping coaches were also stationed here.
The station was closed in April 1966 when the Keswick-Cockermouth section of the line was closed. The Up platform, signal box and goods yard were demolished when the A66 was built on the trackbed of the railway in the 1970's. The down platform, station building, station masters cottage and railwaymans cottage all survived.
These buildings were occupied for a time but in recent years fell into disuse. But thankfully the station is now being restored as a tourist attraction by Diana and Simon Parums. The Down platform now houses the replica Orient Express from the 2017 film "Murder on the Orient Express". The locomotive is based on an SNCF class 241P.
The station building under restoration during the summer of 2020. It's hoped that the station will reopen at some point during 2021.
After leaving Bassenthwaite station the railway skirted the edge of Bassenthwaite lake (pictured above) giving some fantastic views of Skiddaw and the lake.
Braithwaite
An undated photo of the station. Note the camping coaches.
Like the other stations Braithwaite opened in 1865 and was the first stop after leaving Keswick in the Cockermouth direction. The station served the village of Braithwaite but the original plan was for the station to be named Thornthwaite after another nearby village.
The station had 1 track and one platform with a station building of a similar design to others on the route. The goods yard was located to the rear of the station and like other stations camping coaches were placed here for a time. Those can be seen in the above photo. The stations goods yard handled ore extracted from local mines at Thornthwaite and up until the early 1920s timber was loaded here.
Plans existed to link the CK&PR with the mines at Honister via the "Braithwaite & Buttermere Railway". This scheme attracted a lot of negative attention from locals and sadly was never built. It would have run along the western edge of Derwent water steadily gaining height to reach Honister.
The station appears in the 1947 Alfred Hitchcock film "The Paradine Case". In the film the station has been renamed "Coniston". A mock-up exterior of the station was constructed for filming scenes in America. Hitchcock has a cameo during this part of the film as another passenger waiting outside the station.
The station building and platform remains in the summer of 2020.
The station closed with the rest of the line in April 1966. Today the main station building, a section of platform and the station masters house still survive as private dwellings. A public footpath leads past the station site (pictured above). The trackbed a short distance west from here has been lost under the A66.
A section of trackbed east of Braithwaite station looking in the direction of Keswick.
From Braithwaite there is no railway path. But, at points it is possible to see the old trackbed. There are however a number of missing bridges and the trackbed now appears to be used as farm access in a number of places.
Keswick
Keswick's station was one of the most important stops on the whole line serving the tourist hotspot of Keswick. The station gave easy access to the town and the surrounding fells and Derwent water. It opened in early January 1865 and, originally had 2 platforms but was rebuilt with a 3rd in the 1890s when the up platform was rebuilt into an island platform.
The main station building was a grand two-story building situated on the down platform. The ground floor was for passengers and housed the waiting room, ticket office, toilets and a bookstall. The upstairs was for the railway company and housed their boardrooms and offices. The platform was protected by an impressive canopy which thankfully still remains today.
The up platform had a large wooden shellter with a slate roof and brick chimnys. Both platforms were linked via s subway. A large water tank sat at the eastern end of the platform. This was enlarged by local firm Cowans Sheldon & Company of Carlisle in the 1880s. The station had two signal boxes with one located at the Eastern end of the down platform (Keswick no.1 formley Keswick B) and one at the western end of the goods yard (Keswick No.2 formley Keswick A)
To the west of the station lay the goods station which handled live stock, coal and general goods. This area is now occupied by the disused lesiure centre. The goods warehouse remained into the 1980s but has since been demolished.
Traffic west towards Cockermouth and Workington ceased in 1966 and in 1970 the track layout was simplified so only the down line and platform remained in use. By this time the line had been singled and DMU's were used on passengers trains and all the stations had became unstaffed.
The up platform and water tank had been demolished by the late 1970s. The area where they once stood is now a carpark. The line east from Keswick to Penrith finally closed to passengers in March 1972.
Keswick station in the summer of 2020.
I intend to cover the line from Keswick towards Threlkeld and Penrith later in the year.
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