Workington railway station

Workington railway station serves the town of Workington in Cumbria, England. The railway station is a stop on the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line 53 kilometres (33 mi) south west of Carlisle. Some through trains to the Furness Line and to Sunderland stop here. It is operated by Northern Rail who provide all passenger train services.

History and data

History

The present station is the second one to occupy the site. The first one was built at the opening of the original line and replaced by the London & North Western Railway who took over the Whitehaven Junction and Workington & Cockermouth lines in 1866. The Workington station in its present form was first known as Workington LNWR then at the grouping it was renamed Workington Main. With the end of steam the station then was referred to as 'Workington' railway station. Trains from the Cockermouth and Keswick direction ended with the closure of that branch to all traffic in April 1966, the line having fallen victim to the Beeching Axe.

Layout

The station was built with yellow Crewe bricks and had four tracks running though the station. Two of the tracks which are not served by platforms were once used to stable Travelling Post Office carriages. There was also a twelve road engine shed, wagon repair shops, a coaling stage, a goods shed and a stable block, all built with local sandstone. In LMS days, a new turntable was installed behind the engine shed. In British Railways days the engine shed was rebuilt with a new roof and ferro concrete coaling stage and an ash disposal plant was built near to the new turntable. The road approach to the station entrance was remodelled in BR days when the highways near to the station was upgraded.

Temporary Workington North station

As a consequence of the November 2009 Great Britain and Ireland floods, Network Rail built a temporary additional station 1 mile (1.6 km) from the existing station on waste ground off the A596 adjacent to a business park.^[1] An additional hourly shuttle train (composed of a locomotive and at least three former inter-city mainline coaches) operated by Cumbrian-based Direct Rail Services (DRS) on behalf of Northern Rail, running from Workington northbound to Maryport was created in the aftermath of the floods.^[2][3][4] This service started on 30 November 2009 and ran until 28 May 2010.^[5] It was initially funded by the Department for Transport at a cost of £216,000. All services between Workington and Maryport were free of charge for this period.^[6]

Service

There is generally an hourly service northbound to Carlisle and southbound to Whitehaven with some trains going onwards to Barrow-in-Furness. Following the 2009 floods, an hourly shuttle service is operational northbound stopping at stations to Maryport. On Sundays there are three trains a day between Carlisle and Whitehaven.

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Workington_railway_station Workington railway station] at Wikimedia Commons

• Buses from the station
• Buses to the station