Flimby railway station

Flimby National Rail

Flimby railway station in 2002
Photograph by Ben Brooksbank
Location
Place Flimby
Local authority Allerdale
Grid reference NY020338
Operations
Station code FLM
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05  5,939
2005/06 Increase 6,350
2006/07 Decrease 4,832
2007/08 Increase 5,809
2008/09 Increase 6,884
2009/10 Increase 8,756
2010/11 Increase 12,770
2011/12 Increase 15,746
2012/13 Decrease 14,238
2013/14 Decrease 13,566
2014/15 Decrease 13,028
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Flimby from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Flimby railway station serves the village of Flimby in Cumbria, England. The railway station is a request stop on the Cumbrian Coast Line 29 miles (47 km) south-west of Carlisle railway station. It is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services.

History

Flimby railway station looking south west to Siddick and Barrow (2013)

Flimby railway station was opened by the Whitehaven Junction Railway in 1846 along with the rest of the stations on the line from Maryport to Whitehaven Bransty.[1]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has no buildings other than a footbridge and waiting shelters. Tickets must be bought in advance or on the train, as there are no ticket machines available. The two platforms are of differing construction - the southbound is stone whereas the northbound one is wooden.[2] Step-free access is only available for southbound passengers, as the footbridge doesn't have ramps.[3] Train running information is provided by telephone and timetable posters.

Service

There is generally an hourly service northbound to Carlisle and southbound to Whitehaven railway station with most daytime trains going onwards to Barrow-in-Furness. On Sundays there are four trains each way to Carlisle and Whitehaven (no Sunday service south of there). All of these trains only stop at Flimby on request.[4]

In the aftermath of the November 2009 Great Britain and Ireland floods Flimby saw its passenger numbers soar because of the closure of road transport between the north and south of the town of Workington.[5] Additional peak-time services were added for 26–27 November, followed by a new hourly shuttle service northbound to Maryport and southbound to Workington. This shuttle train was timetabled to always stop at Flimby, briefly reversing its status as a request-only stop. This operated between 30 November 2009 and 28 May 2010. Workington North railway station, a temporary station, opened south of Flimby on 30 November 2009, reducing the pressure on trains at Flimby. In addition, all services between Workington, Workington North, Flimby and Maryport were free of charge for this period.[6]

In January 2014, services through the station had to be suspended for several days following flood damage to a 200yd (180m) section of track south of the station caused by strong winds and tidal surges (the railway runs very close to the seashore at this point). The line was closed for a week whilst repairs were carried out.[7]

Accidents

On 1 February 1858, near Flimby colliery which is around a mile north of Flimby railway station, a coal train from Maryport was struck by a scheduled mixed goods and passenger train. It was said that the sharp curve on the line prevented the drivers from seeing each other. The crew of the two trains jumped out and only the fireman of the passenger train was hurt. It was found that the two drivers were not to blame and it was miscommunication between the signalman near the colliery and the Maryport telegraph clerk that caused the clerk to tell the driver of the coal train to proceed. Whilst the clerk was away a third message came through, to which the son of the signalman at the colliery replied "GD" meaning "good", and so the signalman allowed the passenger train to proceed, thus causing the accident.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Whitehaven Junction Railway". RAILSCOT. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  2. ↑ Flimby Station Old Cumbria Gazetteer; Retrieved 2 December 2016
  3. ↑ Flimby station facilities National Rail Enquiries
  4. ↑ GB eNRT December 2016 Edition, Table 100
  5. ↑ "Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledges to pay for temporary bridge". Times & Star. 25 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "New hourly train to help reunite Cumbrian community". Department for Transport. 30 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Repairs to storm-damaged line to take a week" BBC News article 06-01-2014; Retrieved 2014-03-05
  8. ↑ Railway Accidents. Great Britain: Board of Trade. 1858.
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Historical railways
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2009-10 Temporary Service

Coordinates: 54°41′24″N 3°31′16″W / 54.690°N 3.521°W / 54.690; -3.521

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.