Lancaster and Carlisle Railway

The route of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway in 1846

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) was a main line railway opened between Lancaster and Carlisle in 1846. With its Scottish counterpart, the Caledonian Railway, the Company launched the first continuous railway connection between the English railway network and the emerging network in central Scotland. The selection of its route was controversial, and strong arguments were put forward in favour of alternatives, in some cases avoiding the steep gradients, or connecting more population centres. Generating financial support for such a long railway was a challenge, and induced the engineer Joseph Locke to make a last-minute change to the route: in the interests of economy and speed of construction, he eliminated a summit tunnel at the expense of steeper gradients.

The sparseness of the population discouraged the addition of branch lines, with a small number of exceptions, although several east-west secondary routes made independent connection to the route. Establishing a joint station at Carlisle with the three other railway companies terminating there, seemed obviously appropriate, but proved hugely difficult, and the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway funded the main station practically single-handedly, in the face of outright obstruction.

The line was electrified in 1974 and at the present day is a key part of the West Coast Main Line, carrying long-distance passenger and freight trains.

Extending northwards

In 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened, heralding a new age of steam powered public railways.<ref name = holt20>Geoffrey Holt and Gordon Biddle, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume 10: the North West, David St John Thomas, Nairn, 1986, Template:ISBN, page 20</ref> It did not take many years for a railway network to form, and by October 1838 it reached Preston, enabling through journeys from London.<ref name = holt200>Holt and Biddle, page 200</ref> On 26 June 1840 the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway further extended the network north as far as Lancaster.<ref name = holt224>Holt and Biddle, page 224</ref>

Already in 1835 many observers saw that a trunk line connecting England and Scotland could be expected soon; surveys had already been carried out and routes suggested. George Stephenson had developed two routes, a direct one via Shap following the valley of the River Lune. This involved steep gradients, which Stephenson disliked, and he preferred a route crossing Morecambe Bay by a long barrage, and round the Cumberland coast. This had much easier gradients and would serve numerous populated settlements, but at the expense of considerable extra distance. Stephenson's proposals were not carried forward at this stage. Joseph Locke carried out a series of assessments of practicable routes in the years 1835 to 1837, not all of them actual surveys. In particular, on 4 November 1836 Joseph Locke was commissioned by the Grand Junction Railway to "report on the practicability of making a railway communication between Preston and Glasgow".<ref name = reed95>Brian Reed, Crewe to Carlisle, Ian Allan, London, 1973, Template:ISBN, page 95</ref><ref name = joy16>David Joy, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume VIII: South and West Yorkshire, David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbot, 1984, Template:ISBN, page 16</ref> He proposed a route passing east of Lancaster and running up the valley of the River Lune past Kirkby Lonsdale. There was to be a summit tunnel at Shap, Template:Frac miles long, after which the line would descend through Bampton, Askham and Penrith into Carlisle. The steepest gradients were to be 1 in 100. His report was well received, but no progress was made at this stage.<ref name= joy19>Joy, page 19 to 22</ref>

File:Cumbria railway early proposals.png

Early proposals for a railway to reach Carlise

In 1837 George Stephenson was commissioned by interests in the Whitehaven area to design a route round the coast of Cumberland linking with the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. Stephenson was sceptical about the ability of locomotives of the day to ascend gradients, and he was happy to prepare a route that followed the coast closely, crossing Morecambe Bay from Poulton-le-Sands to Humphrey Head, crossing to Ulverston and then tunnelling under the Furness peninsula and crossing the Duddon Estuary, next following round the Cumberland coast to Whitehaven, where a railway from Carlisle was already proposed. Modifications to that prodigious scheme were put forward the following year.<ref name = joy19/><ref name = reed99>Reed, page 99</ref>

At the time Kendal was a significant community of 9,000 persons, and local interests were dismayed to be by-passed by Locke's scheme. They argued that a line could be made running north from Kendal up Long Sleddale. At the head of the valley a Template:Frac mile tunnel could take the line to a viaduct over Mardale, and the line would then follow the west side of Haweswater<ref group = note>The body of water was much altered after 1929 when it was made into Haweswater Reservoir.</ref> to Bampton and Penrith. The tunnel under Gatescarth Pass (1,950 feet above sea level) would require construction shafts 700 feet deep.<ref name = joy19/> Meanwhile Locke revisited his Lune Valley route and proposed a deviation between Tebay and Penrith, involving a shorter tunnel under Orton Scar, before curving to the west through Crosby Ravensworth, Morland and Clifton.<ref name = joy19/><ref name = reed105>Reed, pages 105 and 106</ref>

The Commission on Railway Communication

File:Cumbria railway later proposals.png

Later proposals to reach Carlisle

Carlisle was not the ultimate destination in these considerations: the issue was a route between the emerging English network and central Scotland. Although Lancaster was an obvious starting point for a westerly route, there were advocates for an eastern route from York. Here too the terrain northwards was a major difficulty: selection of the route of such a line within Scotland was just as controversial as that in England, and it incorporated just as great a difficulty in finding a practicable route.<ref name = robertson>C J A Robertson, The Origins of the Scottish Railway System, 1722 - 1844, John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, 1983, Template:ISBN, pages 268 to 274</ref><ref name = reed111>Reed, pages 111 to 113</ref>

At the time there was a firm belief that only one such route could be sustained, and the Government took the unusual step of establishing a Commission on Railway Communication to determine what that route should be. The commission was appointed in November 1839 and had two members, Lt Col Sir Frederic Smith and Peter Barlow, Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Their task was to examine the whole question of railway communication between England and Scotland, as well as between London and Ireland.<ref name = reed111/><ref name = robertson274>Robertson, pages 274 to 278</ref>

The Smith and Barlow Commission became bogged down by energetic advocacy of rival schemes, and their first report of May 1840 was ambiguous. However it rejected the Stephenson scheme for a Cumberland coast railway. They suggested that a route combining the Lancaster to Kendal part of the Long Sleddale route and the northern part of the Lune Valley route might be feasible. George Larmer, working as Locke's local engineering representative while Locke was engaged elsewhere, quickly surveyed the connecting link from near Kendal to Borrowbridge in the Lune Valley, finding a route that offered reasonable gradients.

The commission issued a second report in November 1840, which approved Larmer's route, which became the preferred option for a Lancaster to Carlisle line. The commission stuck to the policy that only one Anglo-Scottish route was viable, but it refrained from any definite recommendation as between west and east coasts. Their opinion was becoming irrelevant, as the west coast faction was now building to Lancaster, and the east coast railways were shortly to reach Newcastle.<ref name = joy19/><ref name = reed111/><ref name = reed116>Reed, pages 116 to 120</ref>

Final route selection

File:Cumbria railway final route.png

Final route to reach Carlisle

At the time a London to Glasgow journey involved a steamer section, at first from Liverpool to Ardrossan, and from 1840 from Fleetwood to Ardrossan.<ref name = holt215>Holt and Biddle, pages 215 and 216</ref> Provision of a direct railway connection was now inevitable and the commission's view was no longer authoritative. However the money market had become tight, but after considerable hesitation in committing money, there was a meeting on 6 November 1843 at Kendal which determined to build what became the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Company. The London and Birmingham Railway had offered to subscribe £100,000, the Grand Junction Railway had offered £250,000 and the North Union Railway and the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway had each agreed to take £65,000. Locke was asked to be engineer-in-chief and he made some last minute revisions to the route previously advanced. The line was to strike north from the Lancaster-Penny Street terminus of the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway and pass round the east side of the town.<ref group = note>Lancaster became a city in 1937.</ref> Locke adopted the Lancaster - Oxenholme - Grayrigg - Tebay route, but eliminated the tunnel at Orton Scar, and determined to cross Shap Summit without any tunnel. In doing so he increased ruling gradients from 1 in 140 in the earlier scheme to four miles of 1 in 75. To avoid landowner opposition, he altered the Bampton and Askham route to run via Thrimby Grange and Clifton. The bill for the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway went forward to the 1844 session of Parliament.<ref name = joy23>Joy, pages 23 and 24</ref><ref name = reed117>Reed, pages 117 to 120</ref>

Authorisation and construction

Template:Infobox UK legislation The scheme received royal assent without much opposition, becoming the Template:Visible anchor (7 & 8 Vict. c. xxxvi) on 6 June 1844. Authorised share capital was £900,000.<ref name = joy24>Joy, pages 24 to 28</ref><ref name = holt226>Holt and Biddle, page 226</ref><ref name = reed120>Reed, page 120</ref>

The line was to be built as a single track with land acquired sufficient for double track. However on 4 October 1844 the directors resolved: "That viewing probable increase of traffic and the extension of the railway to Scotland... it is desirable that this board shall recommend to the shareholders at a special meeting to be held as early as possible, to lay down a double line of rails for the whole line or for any part that may be considered desirable." This was obviously in consideration of a continuation to central Scotland, although it was nine months before the Caledonian Railway act of incorporation, the Caledonian Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxii), of 31 July 1845.<ref name = reed140>Reed, page 140</ref><ref name = joy24/>

Template:Infobox UK legislation In early 1845 a petition was received from citizens of Lancaster, asking that the new line should pass to the west of the town, near the navigable section of the River Lune. This was agreed to, and an amending act of Parliament, the Kendal and Windermere Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxii), obtained on 30 June 1845 authorising a deviation line leaving the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway (L&PJR) south of Lancaster, and passing through a new Lancaster station; the old Template:Abbr station was thus to remain a terminus. Kendal interests were also dismayed to learn that the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) would pass about two miles from their town, and they quickly developed a scheme for a branch line to their town, running on to the shore of Windermere. Approval for the Kendal and Windermere Railway was received in the same act of Parliament as the Lancaster deviation, without opposition in Parliament; authorised capital was £125,000.<ref name = joy201>Joy, page 201</ref>

Construction and opening

The allied railways building the east coast route to Scotland, via Berwick,<ref group = note>Later named Berwick-upon-Tweed.</ref> were pressing ahead, and there was serious concern that if the Template:Abbr was not built swiftly, it would suffer a huge competitive disadvantage.

The line was opened between Lancaster and Kendal Junction (later named Oxenholme) was opened formally on 21 September 1846, and the following day to the general public. For the time being it was a single line only. The section from Kendal Junction to Kendal on the Windermere line was opened on the same day. On 15 December 1846 the remainder of the line from Kendal Junction to Carlisle was opened formally, and fully on 17 December 1846. By January 1847 double track had been installed throughout.<ref name = reed155>Reed, page 155</ref> Two passenger trains ran each way daily throughout on the line at first.<ref name = reed158>Reed, page 158</ref><ref name = holt226/><ref name = joy26>Joy, pages 26 to 28</ref>

The Caledonian Railway opened its line from Carlisle northwards to Beattock on 11 September 1847, the first stage of its own construction.<ref name = joy26/><ref name = reed159>Reed, page 159</ref>

Windermere branch

The first branch connection of any sort off the L&CR was the Kendal and Windermere Railway. The two miles from Kendal Junction (later named Oxenholme) to Kendal opened to passenger traffic with the southern section of the L&CR on 22 September 1846, but goods traffic was delayed until 4 January 1847. The Kendal to Windermere section was opened on 20 April 1847.<ref name = reed198>Reed, page 198</ref><ref name = joy201/>

Company amalgamations

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) depended on the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway (L&PJR) for its southward connection. At the end of 1844, the common interests of the Template:Abbr and the Template:Abbr Railway were becoming plain, and talk of an amalgamation turned into serious negotiation. An arrangement was agreed, but the Template:Abbr shareholders refused the proposal. The directors of the L&PJR felt aggrieved that their considerable hard work in negotiation was so casually cast aside, and they all, except one, resigned. This left the Template:Abbr without a properly constituted directorate, and it was unable to function at corporate level.

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway had been backed by the money of principal investors in more southerly railways, who saw the advantage of a future west coast main line to Scotland. On 16 July 1846, just as the Lancaster-Carlisle was nearing completion, a merger occurred between three important concerns: the London and Birmingham Railway, the Grand Junction Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway amalgamated to form the London and North Western Railway. The Template:Abbr had agreed that the Grand Junction Railway would work its line, and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) therefore inherited that task. The Template:Abbr wished to form connecting and through services with the Template:Abbr at Preston, so the paralysis in the intervening Template:Abbr was a problem. Accordingly the Template:Abbr gave notice of its intention to run trains over the Template:Abbr when it opened from Lancaster to Kendal, and nobody had the authority to prevent it. This service began on 22 September 1846.<ref name = holt226/><ref name = joy26/>

Opening on 15 February 1848, the Caledonian Railway now connected Glasgow and Edinburgh into the west coast network. This led to a huge increase in business, and a 44 per cent rise in the receipts of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. Nevertheless the new Anglo-Scottish expresses were running without authority over the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway. The Template:Abbr was carefully accounting for the toll charges it would pay, against the day when there was an active owning company to which it could pay them. The alarming situation was discussed at a shareholders' general meeting on 4 August 1848, when authority was given to plan an independent line between Lancaster and Preston, as no resolution of the dangerously unsatisfactory status quo seemed imminent. In fact matters were brought to a head by a rear-end collision at Bay Horse, on the Template:Abbr line, on 21 August 1848, when a London to Glasgow express passenger train ran into a stationary train carrying out station duties there. One person was killed and several injured. The subsequent Board of Trade Inquiry report elaborated the entire chaotic situation, and public opinion forced the Template:Abbr to re-constitute itself.<ref name = holt227>Holt and Biddle, pages 227 and 228</ref><ref name = laffan>Captain R M Laffan, Lancaster & Preston Railway: Report to Commissioners of Railways, Board of Trade, 24 August 1848</ref><ref name = reed86>Reed, pages 86 and 91</ref>

On 1 August 1849 the management of the Template:Abbr line was taken over by the Template:Abbr. Up until this time the Template:Abbr had been running local trains from its terminus at Lancaster, but now all passenger business was transferred to [[Lancaster railway station|the Template:Abbr station]], and the Template:Abbr terminus became a goods station.

The full amalgamation of the Template:Abbr with the Template:Abbr, and the lease of the Kendal and Windermere Railway were authorised by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Act 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c. cxxiv) of 13 August 1859. Within the next month the Template:Abbr, including the properties which had belonged to these two other lines, was leased for 900 years to the Template:Abbr as from 1 August 1859. Thus the Template:Abbr came to an end as an active operator.<ref name = reed131>Reed, page 131</ref>

Connecting railways

File:Penrith railway 2122631 85cb198d.jpg

Penrith station: double headed up train starts away

The North Western Railway<ref group = note>The North Western Railway is usually referred to informally as the Little North Western Railway to distinguish it from the better known London and North Western Railway.</ref> (NWR) wanted to connect Morecambe, where a harbour was being developed, with Skipton. The Template:Abbr opened a line from Morecambe to its own station at Lancaster, Green Ayre in 1848 and was extended eastward to Wennington, joining the uncompleted Skipton to Low Gill route there, on 17 November 1849. The Template:Abbr opened a single track connection from Green Ayre to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) Lancaster Castle station on 19 December 1849.

The Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway was incorporated on 24 July 1851, to make a line from Ulverston to Carnforth. It opened to goods traffic on 10 August 1857 and to passenger traffic on 16 August 1857. The Furness Railway and the Midland Railway jointly built a line from Carnforth to Wennington, on the North Western Railway line, and this opened in 1867.

Template:Infobox UK legislation In 1849 the North Western Railway (NWR) had opened its line from Skipton to Ingleton. In 1855 there was an upsurge in interest in rival long-distance railways and the idea of continuing to Low Gill, originally authorised but never completed, was revived. The Template:Abbr saw that this was a threat to abstract traffic from it, and it promoted its own bill for a line from near Tebay to Ingleton. This was obviously a spoiling tactic, and Parliament inserted a clause into the bill requiring the Template:Abbr Ingleton branch to be physically connected to the Template:Abbr terminus there. The Template:Visible anchor (20 & 21 Vict. c. clxi) was passed on 25 August 1857 with additional capital of £300,000. The junction at Low Gill was to be triangular. Having achieved the object of blocking the approach of other railways, the Template:Abbr was no hurry to build the line, and it opened after the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) takeover, on 24 August (goods) and 16 September (passengers), 1861. The south curve of the intended triangular Low Gill junctions was never built.

File:Tebay railway station 2109528 6c6948c2.jpg

Tebay railway station

The Template:Abbr did what it could to discourage through traffic. Through running at Ingleton did not take place, and at Tebay there were no worthwhile connections. Midland Railway carriages to or from Scotland were not permitted for a long time. The Midland Railway later took over the North Western Railway, but eventually gave up the idea of running from Leeds to Carlisle over the line and the Template:Abbr (now LNWR) north from Low Gill. In frustration the Midland Railway promoted what became the Settle and Carlisle Line. The Template:Abbr saw that this would abstract far more business than if it permitted the Midland Railway to use its line from Low Gill to Carlisle, on which it could charge tolls on the traffic, and it belatedly offered to concede the facility. The Midland Railway wished to take advantage of this, which would avoid the expense of constructing the Settle and Carlisle Line, but Parliament refused to allow the abandonment of the project. In this way the Template:Abbr secured a pyrrhic victory, and the Midland Railway was obliged to construct the Settle and Carlisle line.<ref name = reed194>Reed, pages 194 and 196</ref>

Template:Infobox UK legislation One more branch was promoted by the Template:Abbr before the Template:Abbr takeover. A short loop was authorised from Hest Bank to a junction on the Little North Western line at Bare Lane, on the outskirts of Morecambe. Royal assent for the Template:Visible anchor (22 & 23 Vict. c. cxxiv) was obtained on 13 August 1859, and it was the Template:Abbr that actually built the line. It opened on 8 August 1864. It was built as double track, but was soon singled.<ref name = reed196>Reed, page 196</ref>

Carlisle

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} At the time of the incorporation of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) there were two railways already in Carlisle: the Maryport and Carlisle Railway (M&CR) and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR). In March 1844 the Template:Abbr board discussed a possible joint station with the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. The Template:Abbr had a bill in Parliament for an extension to an improved station of its own, at Crown Street, and felt that its bill should proceed, but undertook to make arrangements with the Template:Abbr for the joint use of this station and land to the south-west of it. At this stage the eventual construction of the Caledonian Railway was regarded as certain, although that company's powers were not being applied for yet. Next month the Template:Abbr suggested that if the Template:Abbr station bill was withdrawn, the Template:Abbr, the Template:Abbr, and the Caledonian Railway would share the Template:Abbr's parliamentary expenses among them, and that the four companies should then form a joint station committee to decide on the best site and other matters. The Template:Abbr gave this idea approval in principle, but the Template:Abbr declined.

The Template:Abbr made agreements with the Template:Abbr in the summer of 1845 to use their London Road station from when the Template:Abbr reached Carlisle, until such time as a joint station was completed. London Road station was reached by a short extension spur from Upperby, but the station was itself on a spur facing Newcastle, so Template:Abbr trains had to reverse into it.

Template:Infobox UK legislation The question of the joint station was on hold awaiting the formation of the Caledonian Railway. In May 1845, the Template:Abbr tried to get the issue moving again, but the Template:Abbr continued to obstruct an agreement, and retaining a plot of intervening land needed by the Template:Abbr approach to the intended joint station. The Template:Abbr too prevaricated, hoping to get compensated for its expenditure on the London Road station. Considerable negotiation on points of detail continued, until from the beginning of 1846 the Template:Abbr determined to have one common station at Carlisle, even if it had to provide all the money itself. The Template:Visible anchor (9 & 10 Vict. c. cclvii) authorising the station was passed on 27 July 1846. The new station began to be referred to as "Citadel" from February 1847. The Caledonian Railway got its act of Parliament, the Caledonian Railway (Carlisle Deviation) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlix), the same day for a line to approach the station from the north.<ref name = joy67>Joy, pages 67, 68, 73, 76 and 77</ref>

In 1846 the Template:Abbr planned to cross the Template:Abbr's Canal Branch to get direct access to its Crown Street station, which had hitherto been reached by a reversal on the Template:Abbr line. In the summer of 1847 the Template:Abbr construction was approaching Citadel, and crossed the existing Crown Street branch on the level, and it crossed the Template:Abbr Canal branch on the level at St Nicholas. In 1849 the L&CR went to law to get possession of Template:Abbr ground it needed. From 1 June 1851, Template:Abbr trains used Citadel station, at first by reversal off the Template:Abbr line, but from 8 August 1852 up the new direct spur from Bog Street.

On 24 May 1847 the Template:Abbr wrote to the three other companies; it had by now expended £60,000 on the joint station, and it invited the other companies to contribute some money at once, in the proportions 3:3:3:1 (Template:Abbr:Template:Abbr:Caledonian Railway:Template:Abbr). Only the Template:Abbr responded, sending a cheque for part of the sum requested. In frustration the Template:Abbr returned the cheque and stated that it could no longer treat the Template:Abbr as a party to the construction of the joint station; this action resulted in a complete breakdown of relations.

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) diverted its trains to the Citadel station in September 1847, probably 1 September: the station was far from complete. The Caledonian Railway started using the station on 10 September 1847 when the first part of its own line was opened, as far as Beattock.<ref name = joy67/>

The Template:Abbr negotiated briefly in March 1848 to lease the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR). George Hudson, the so-called Railway King, was chairman of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and he saw the Template:Abbr as part of his kingdom. He was accustomed to using underhand tactics, and was later found out and disgraced At this stage however, he immediately leased the Template:Abbr, from 1 August 1848, to keep the Template:Abbr away. He soon went further, leasing the Maryport and Carlisle Railway (M&CR) from 1 October in the same year. The alignment of the Template:Abbr approaching from the south crossed the Template:Abbr Canal Branch on the level at St Nicholas, and also the Template:Abbr Crown Street line on the level. An Template:Abbr passenger train arriving at Crown Street crossed the Template:Abbr line on the level three times in doing so; if the train proceeded to London Road, as some did, and its engine returned light, then five level crossings of the Template:Abbr took place.

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway considered the Template:Abbr Crown Street terminal to be temporary, and actually illegal. It negotiated with the Template:Abbr and offered £7,005 for the land it needed for the development of Citadel station. Hudson intervened, and demanded £100,000. A jury was appointed to assess the value of the land, and it decided on £7,171, which the Template:Abbr immediately paid. Hudson still refused to give up the land, and the Template:Abbr called in the Under Sheriff of Cumberland. At 10 am on 17 March 1849 that officer took possession of the site and handed it over to the solicitor of the Template:Abbr. Workmen employed by the Template:Abbr immediately dismantled Crown Street station and the tracks there. Hudson's fall from power took place shortly afterwards, and Parliament refused to sanction his leases of the Template:Abbr and the Template:Abbr, so that control of those networks reverted to the owning companies.

The Maryport and Carlisle Railway now reached an agreement with the Template:Abbr and the Caledonian Railway, and became a permanent tenant of Citadel station, effective from 1 June 1851. Its trains reversed into the station from the London Road direction on the Template:Abbr, until a direct curve was opened on 8 August 1852.<ref name = joy67/>

The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) never used Citadel station, and it was not until the North Eastern Railway (NER) took over the Template:Abbr on 17 July 1862 that discussion resumed, and the Template:Abbr used Citadel from 1 January 1863 as a tenant. The Template:Abbr had always run on the right-hand track and the start of regular train working into Citadel showed this to be a problem. In 1864 the Template:Abbr changed the running to normal left hand running, and to suit this some signal alterations had to be made around St Nicholas crossing and junction.

It was left to the Template:Abbr and the Caledonian Railway between them to share the cost of Citadel, but the Caledonian was not a good payer. By July 1847 the Template:Abbr had advanced £56,490 on the station, and the Caledonian had only paid in £5,000. It was not until 1854, when the station works had cost £178,324, that the Caledonian Railway then paid £85,391 as its portion. This great leniency of the Template:Abbr over a long and difficult period was probably motivated by the desire that the Caledonian Railway should emerge as a vigorous partner in the Anglo-Scottish trade.

The level crossing of the Template:Abbr Canal Branch was hardly appropriate for a main line railway, and on 7 July 1877 a new Template:Abbr alignment came into use carrying the main line over the Canal Branch, which was itself realigned.<ref name = joy85>Joy, page 85</ref>

Absorption by the LNWR

Finding itself now very prosperous, thanks to the Anglo-Scottish traffic, the Template:Abbr delayed absorption by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), until on 10 September 1859 it leased its line to the Template:Abbr. The terms were very generous to Template:Abbr shareholders, as the Template:Abbr feared the line's allegiance might pass to the Midland Railway, which at that time was advancing towards Carlisle from Leeds. The Template:Abbr amalgamated with the Template:Abbr immediately before this arrangement, so that the whole line from Preston to Carlisle was included. The Template:Abbr was vested outright in the Template:Abbr from 21 July 1879.<ref name = holt227/>

Reed observes that:

During the 15 years’ independent working existence of the Template:Abbr the board had had to suffer only one open contretemps, though there were internal dissensions from time to time. Dividends continued to rise until the beginning of 1855, when, due to the depression in general trade, the Crimean War, and a slight decrease in the Anglo-Scottish traffic, there was a fall in receipts and a small drop in the dividend rate. Seizing on this as an excuse, disturbed at what was said to be frequent Template:Abbr domination, and angry that the board would not sanction a lease of the Little North Western Railway, a section of the shareholders led by John Barker, of Milnthorpe, made sweeping charges of defective management causing weak dividends. At the half-yearly meeting in September 1855 at which the issue came to a head, the board adjourned the meeting and asked for a committee of enquiry. This was, perhaps, the only case of such charges being made against a board that had been paying 8 to Template:Frac per cent and had dropped only to Template:Frac per cent, all paid out of revenue.<ref name = reed121>Reed, page 121</ref>

LNWR branches

Two branch lines off the Template:Abbr main line were promoted and built by the London and North Western Railway after the takeover. A double-track south curve from the Lancaster direction leading to the Hest Bank branch near Bare Lane was authorised by the London and North Western Railway Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. cxxxi) of 19 July 1887, and opened on 19 May 1888.

Later development of the line

The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway line was a key part of the west coast route from London to Glasgow. The line continued as the principal route through Carlisle, and to this day is part of the West Coast Main Line. The steep gradients designed by Locke was for many years an operational difficulty, and all but the lightest trains had to be assisted by a banking engine or a pilot engine. Even after the introduction of diesel traction, this necessity continued, only being obviated on electrification of the route.

Electrification

The Preston to Carlisle section of the West Coast Main Line was electrified on the 25kV overhead system; it was energised on 25 March 1974. A full electrically operated train service started on 6 May 1974. On 7 May HM the Queen travelled the route and 'drove' the train from Preston to Lancaster.<ref name = gillham>J C Gillham, The Age of the Electric Train, Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 1988, Template:ISBN, pages 169 and 170</ref>

Locations

• Lancaster Old Junction; divergence from Template:Abbr line to 1967;
• Lancaster; opened 22 September 1846; Bradshaw showed this as Lancaster New Bailey in first months, and occasionally as Lancaster Castle later; still open;
• Morecambe South Junction; divergence to Morecambe from 1888;
• Hest Bank; opened 22 September 1846; closed 3 February 1969;
• Bolton; opened 7 August 1847; Bolton-le-Sands shown in Bradshaw from 1861; closed 3 February 1969;
• Carnforth; opened 22 September 1846; both Carnforth and Carnforth-Yealand used in timetables 1849 to 1864; Yealand was probably added due to a clerical error; main line platforms closed 4 May 1970; branch platforms still open;
• Burton and Holme; opened 22 September 1846; closed 27 March 1950;
• Milnthorpe; opened 22 September 1846; closed 1 July 1968;
• Hincaster Junction; convergence of Furness Railway line from Arnside, 1876 - 1963;
• Kendal Junction; opened 22 September 1846; Oxenholme was used in Bradshaw and other documentation; definitely Oxenholme from 1898; renamed Oxenholme Lake District 11 May 1987; still open;
• Grayrigg; opened by 8 July 1848; resited 1 November 1849; closed 1 February 1954
• Low Gill; opened 17 December 1846; closed 1 November 1861;
• Low Gill Junction; opened 16 September 1861; renamed Low Gill from 1883; closed 7 March 1960;
• Tebay; opened 17 December 1846; closed 1 July 1968;
• Shap Summit; workmen's platform for Shap Granite Company, probably from the mid-1880s to autumn 1956;
• Shap; opened 17 December 1846; closed 1 July 1968;
• Clifton; opened 17 December 1846; renamed Clifton and Lowther 1 February 1877; closed 4 July 1938
• Eden Valley Junction; convergence of Eden Valley Line 1863 - 1962;
• Eamont Junction; divergence of Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway, 1864 - 1972;
• Penrith; opened 17 December 1846; shown as Penrith for Ullswater Lake (sic) in timetables from 1904; simply Penrith from 6 May 1974; renamed Penrith North Lakes 18 May 2003; still open;
• Plumpton; opened 17 December 1846; closed 31 May 1948;
• Calthwaite; opened by 28 July 1847; closed 7 April 1952;
• Southwaite; opened 17 December 1846; closed 7 April 1952;
• Wreay; opened December 1852, replacing Brisco; closed 16 August 1943;
• Brisco; opened 17 December 1846; closed November 1852;
• Upperby Bridge Junction; connection to goods lines from 1877;
• Upperby Junction; connection towards N&CR line;
• Carlisle; opened by 10 September 1847; various combinations with "Citadel" and "Joint" used in timetables; still open.

<ref name = quick>Michael Quick, Railway Passenger Stations in England, Scotland and Wales: A Chronology, the Railway and Canal Historical Society, Richmond, Surrey, fifth (electronic) edition, 2019</ref><ref name = cobb>Col M H Cobb, The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas, Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 2002</ref>

Further reading

• Template:Citation

External links

• Notes on L&CR includes map and photographs
• Illustrated London News report on opening of L&CR including a detailed description of the railway