Penrith railway station

Penrith The North Lakes
Location
Place	Penrith
Local authority	Eden
Coordinates	54°39′43″N 2°45′29″W / 54.662°N 2.758°W / 54.662; -2.758Coordinates: 54°39′43″N 2°45′29″W / 54.662°N 2.758°W / 54.662; -2.758
Grid reference	NY511299
Operations
Station code	PNR
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.241 million
2005/06	0.267 million
2006/07	0.308 million
2007/08	0.341 million
2008/09	0.359 million
2009/10	0.390 million
2010/11	0.411 million
2011/12	0.420 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Penrith The North Lakes from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Penrith railway station (also known as Penrith The North Lakes^[1]) is located on the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom. It serves the town of Penrith, Cumbria, and is less than one mile from its centre. National Express coaches leave from the station's car park and there are bus links to Keswick, Workington, Appleby-in-Westmorland and Ullswater from here too.

Background

A 1903 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Penrith

Penrith railway station in 1974

The station was built by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, and was opened on 17 December 1846.^[2] Although the station is now relatively quiet at one time this was the terminus for the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway and the North Eastern Railway's Eden Valley branch which joined with the Stainmore line at Kirkby Stephen providing connections to the East Coast Main Line at Darlington. There was also in the mid-nineteenth century a plan to connect Penrith by rail to the lead mines at Caldbeck and eventually joining up with the Cumbrian Coast Line near Wigton. Passenger services to Kirkby Stephen & Darlington were withdrawn in 1962, whilst those to Cockermouth & Workington fell victim to the Beeching Axe four years later; the surviving portion of the C&KP to Keswick survived until March 1972.

The station currently lacks a cafe. An 1863 Ordnance Survey plan^[3] shows refreshment facilities in the large room seen to the right on entering the building, but this is now used for storage.

The station was renamed from Penrith to Penrith for Ullswater in the early years of British Railways;^[2] and the name reverted to Penrith on 6 May 1974.^[2][4]

Up until August 2006 the station was probably unique in that although being a manned main line station it did not have electronic departure boards or TV screens depicting departures/arrivals but only a handwritten departure board in the waiting room/ticket office.^{[citation needed]} It was also the last station in the UK where mail was collected by a moving train, the practice finally coming to an end in October 1971.^[5]

The station is operated by Virgin Trains, who refer to the station as Penrith The North Lakes.^[1]

Just south of Penrith station in 1951.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Penrith railway station.

• Train times and station information for Penrith railway station from National Rail
• Buses from the station
• Buses to the station

Services

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Oxenholme Lake District		First TransPennine Express TransPennine North West		Carlisle
		Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line
	Disused railways
Terminus		Eden Valley Railway		Clifton (Moor)
Blencow		Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway		Terminus
	Historical railways
Clifton & Lowther		London and North Western Railway Lancaster and Carlisle Railway		Plumpton