Copperas Hill railway station

Disused railway station in Cumbria, England

54°36′15″N 3°34′08″W / 54.6042°N 3.5688°W / 54.6042; -3.5688Grid referenceNX987243Platforms1[1]Other informationStatusDisusedHistoryOriginal companyLowca Light RailwayPost-groupingLowca Light RailwayKey dates15 April 1912Workmen's service commenced2 June 1913Public passenger service[2]September 1921Last appeared in Bradshaw1 April 1929Workmen's service ended[3]
  • v
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Lowca Light Railway and Gilgarran Branch
Legend
Key
open line
Gilgarran Branch
Lowca Light Railway
other closed lines
Cumbrian Coast line
to Maryport
Flimby
Linefoot
Siddick Junction
Linefoot Junction
 Great Broughton
St Helens Colliery
Dock Junction
Seaton
Dock
Calva Junction
Derwent Junction
Cloffocks Junction
enlarge… Workington Main
Workington Central enlarge…
Solway Colliery
Derwent Ironworks
 
Moss Bay
 
(north)
Ironworks
 
(south)
 
Harrington
(Church Road Halt)
High Harrington
Harrington
Rosehill
(Archer Street Halt)
Harrington Harbour
Rose Hill Platform
Rose Hill Junction
Copperas Hill
Micklam
Ullock
Lowca
Distington Junction
to Marron Junction
Distington
Wythemoor Colliery
Bain's Siding
Distington Ironworks
United Steel Companies
Workmen's Halt
Parton Halt
Oatlands
Parton
1972
Key
open line
other closed lines
closed & lifted lines
Flimby
formerly
to Dearham
Siddick Junction
Linefoot Junction
 RNAD Broughton Moor
St Helens Colliery
formerly
to Brigham
Dock Junction
Seaton
Dock
Calva Junction
Derwent Junction
Cloffocks Junction
formerly
to Marron Junction
enlarge… Workington Main
Workington Central enlarge…
Solway Colliery
Derwent Ironworks
 
Moss Bay
 
(north)
Ironworks
 
(south)
 
Harrington
(Church Road Halt)
High Harrington
Harrington
Rosehill
(Archer Street Halt)
Harrington Harbour
Rose Hill Platform
Rose Hill Junction
Copperas Hill
formerly
to Rowrah
Micklam
Ullock
Lowca
Distington Junction
formerly to Marron Junction
Distington
Wythemoor Colliery
Bain's Siding
Distington Ironworks
United Steel Companies
Workmen's Halt
Parton Halt
Oatlands
formerly
to Rowrah
Parton
formerly
to Cleator Moor West

Copperas Hill railway station served the small clifftop community of Copperas Hill, south of Harrington in the former county of Cumberland, England, which is now part of Cumbria.

A public passenger service called at the station between 2 June 1913 and September 1921, though unadvertised workmen's trains had started in April 1912 and continued until April 1929, after which all forms of passenger service ceased.

By 1922 the service had settled down to three trains each way between Lowca and Workington Central, though, surprisingly in that age, trains had stopped calling at Copperas Hill in September 1921. There never was a public Sunday service.[4]

The station was on the Harrington and Lowca Light Railway which connected with the Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (CWJR) at Rosehill Junction a short distance north of Copperas Hill and south of Harrington Village. Workmen's services to and from Copperas Hill variously ran from Moss Bay Cart Siding, Maryport (during the First World War), Workington Central and Seaton (Cumbria). Public passenger trains ran to these last two only.

Freight services

The railway through Copperas Hill was first and foremost a mineral railway, with the short-lived workmen's and passenger services an afterthought. A waggonway had reached a chemical works at the station site in the first half of the nineteenth century, connecting Harrington harbour with John Pit and Hodgson Pit. Later developments, eventually ran northwards towards Workington and northeastwards to meet the Gilgarran Branch at Bain's Siding. The driving forces were coal at Lowca, fireclay and bricks (primarily aimed at lining furnaces at Workington's steelworks), coke and coking bi-products. Centrepiece for over fifty years was Harrington No. 10 Colliery which, confusingly, was not in Harrington, but in Lowca.

Between them these industrial concerns sustained the railway through Copperas Hill until final closure to all traffic in May 1973.

Although closed in 1921 the station was still in good shape in 1969.[5]

A British record

Copperas Hill station was short-lived, but the track immediately north of the station has its place in the railway record books. Its southbound uphill gradient of 1 in 17 was the steepest adhesion-worked British incline carrying a regular, timetabled passenger service.[6][7][8]

Afterlife

The track through the station site was lifted by the end of 1973. The trackbed now forms part of the Cumbrian Way.


Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Rose Hill Platform
Line and station closed 		  Lowca Light Railway   Micklam
Line and station closed

See also

References

  1. ^ "Copperas Hill station, via Harrington History". Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  2. ^ 1913 Public Timetable, via Cumbrian Railways Association
  3. ^ Andrews 2001, pp. 20–23.
  4. ^ Bradshaw 1985, p. 595.
  5. ^ Anderson 2001, p. 402.
  6. ^ McGowan Gradon 2004, P. 30, Note 2.
  7. ^ Robinson 1985, p. 66.
  8. ^ Robinson 2002, p. 27.

Sources

  • Andrews, Dr Michael (May 2001). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Harrington and Lowca Light Railway". Cumbrian Railways. 7 (2). Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
  • McGowan Gradon, W. (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway. Grange-over-Sands: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-2-5.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-815-1.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-205-6.

Further reading

  • Anderson, Paul (June 2001). Hawkins, Chris (ed.). "The dog's got your description". British Railways Illustrated. 10 (9). Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. ISSN 0961-8244.
  • Anderson, Paul (April 2002). Hawkins, Chris (ed.). "Dog in the Manger? The Track of the Ironmasters". British Railways Illustrated. 11 (7). Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. ISSN 0961-8244.
  • Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-11-2.
  • Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
  • Haynes, James Allen (April 1920). Cleator & Workington Junction Railway Working Time Table. Central Station, Workington: Cleator and Workington Junction Railway.
  • Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (August 1982). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. 2 (11). Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (October 1982). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. 2 (12). Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Joy, David (1973). Railways of the Lake Counties. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-85206-200-5.
  • News, Notes and (August 1973). Slater, J.N. (ed.). "Lowca Light Railway Closes". The Railway Magazine. 119 (868). London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923. {{cite journal}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  • 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 (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6.
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
  • Webb, David R. (October 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part Two". The Railway Magazine. 110 (762). London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923.
  • British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 978-0-7110-0320-0.
  • 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
  • Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-946537-02-0.
  • Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8003-1.
  • Webb, David R. (September 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. 110 (761). London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923.

External links

  • The closed station on an inter-war OS map National Library of Scotland
  • The station Rail Map Online
  • Latterday steam at Lowca flickr
  • Latterday steam at Lowca flickr
  • Industrial relics at Lowca flickr
  • The line railwaycodes
  • The Harrington collieries Haig Pit Mining Museum
  • v
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Closed railway stations in Cumbria
Waverley Route
Caledonian main line
Solway Junction Railway
Port Carlisle Dock and Railway
Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway
Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Newcastle & Carlisle Railway
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Ingleton branch line
Eden Valley Railway
South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Settle–Carlisle line
Cleator and Workington Junction Railway
Harrington and Lowca Light Railway
Gilgarran Branch
Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway
Whitehaven Junction Railway
Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway
Furness Railway
Cockermouth and Workington Railway
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway
Coniston Railway
Other