Papcastle railway station

Papcastle railway station
Location
Place	Papcastle
Area	Allerdale
Coordinates	54°40′14″N 3°24′40″W / 54.6706°N 3.4111°W / 54.6706; -3.4111Coordinates: 54°40′14″N 3°24′40″W / 54.6706°N 3.4111°W / 54.6706; -3.4111
Grid reference	NY090315
Operations
Original company	Maryport & Carlisle Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	1[1][2]
History
1 June 1867	Opened
1 July 1921	Station closed to passengers[3]
After May 1922	Unadvertised use by quarrymen ended[4]
29 April 1935	Line closed and subsequently lifted[5]
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Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Legend
West Coast Main Line to Glasgow and Edinburgh Carlisle West Coast Main Line to London Cummersdale Dalston Curthwaite Crofton private station Wigton Brookfield Aikbank Junction Leegate Solway Junction Rly Brayton High Blaithwaite Mealsgate Allhallows Colliery Baggrow Aspatria Arkleby (closed 1852) Bullgill Dearham Bridge Maryport Cumbrian Coast Line Dearham Linefoot Linefoot Junction Cleator and Workington Junction Railway Dovenby Lodge Papcastle Cockermouth and Workington Railway Brigham Cockermouth and Workington Railway

Papcastle railway station was on the single track Derwent Branch of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway (M&CR) in the then county of Cumberland, now Cumbria, England.

The station was opened in 1867, situated over a mile from the village of Papcastle. Sidings to the substantial Broughtoncraggs Quarry led off the line opposite the station.

Passenger services

Until 1914 all passenger trains along the branch called at Papcastle, from 1887, by request.

The initial service in August 1867 consisted of two trains each way between Bullgill (written then as "Bull Gill") and Brigham calling at Dearham and Papcastle, Monday to Saturday. By November of that year this had been doubled, with all trains reversing at Brigham to run to and from Cockermouth.

By June 1876 this pattern continued, with two trains added each way on Sundays between Cockermouth and Bullgill.

From 1887 to 1914 five trains started from Maryport with a sixth from Bullgill, all with balancing services, Monday to Saturday. It is not clear whether passengers had to change at Bullgill or whether a reversal took place there as well as at Brigham. Two trains from Maryport and one Bullgill, with balancing services, ran on Sundays. Dearham Bridge and Papcastle were shown as "Signal Stops" where intending passengers had to inform railway staff who would stop the train accordingly. In the case of Papcastle this meant alerting a platelayer's wife living nearby.

Much was made locally of the fact that it was quicker to use the through coach from Carlisle to Cockermouth via the branch than to go via Penrith or Workington.

In 1914 Sunday trains were withdrawn.^[6]

Sources differ when Papcastle closed. One says it lost even its Signal Stop status (by implication, closed) in 1914^[7] whilst another gives its closure date as 1921.^[3] Unadvertised calls were made for quarrymen until at least May 1922.^[8]

The journey time from Cockermouth to Bullgill averaged 25 minutes.

In 1922 six trains passed through the station in each direction, Monday to Saturday, with no Sunday service.^[9]

The service through the station survived until 1935, with trains running from Maryport to Cockermouth, with reversals at Bullgill and Brigham. Much was made locally of the fact that it was quicker to use the through coach from Carlisle to Cockermouth via the branch than to go via Penrith or Workington. This was theoretical for the residents of Papcastle for two reasons, first, the trains didn't stop at "their" station and second, they could walk to Cockermouth more quickly than they could walk to Papcastle station.

Unusually for those times the tracks were lifted not long after closure, with a tragic consequence, when a bridge was being demolished a girder fell on two men and killed them.^[10]

Afterlife

By 2008 the station was in use as a dwelling.

See also

• Maryport & Carlisle Railway
• Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
• Cleator and Workington Junction Railway
• Cockermouth & Workington Railway

References

Sources

• Colman, C. V. (January 1982). Peascod, Michael, ed. "Passenger Services on the Bolton and Derwent Branches". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (9). ISSN 1466-6812. 
• 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. 
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077. 
• Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1 84033 205 0. 
• Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4. 

Further reading

• 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. 
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687. 

External links

• The station on an Edwardian OS map, via National Library of Scotland
• The station, via Rail Map Online
• The station on the branch, with mileages, via Railway Codes