Whitrigg railway station

Whitrigg
An old overbridge near Whitrigg
Location
Place	Whitrigg
Area	Allerdale
Coordinates	54°54′29″N 3°12′45″W / 54.908174°N 3.212369°W / 54.908174; -3.212369Coordinates: 54°54′29″N 3°12′45″W / 54.908174°N 3.212369°W / 54.908174; -3.212369
Grid reference	NY223577
Operations
Original company	Solway Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	1
History
1 October 1870[1]	Opened
1 September 1921[2]	Station closed to all traffic
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Whitrigg was a railway station on the Bowness Moss which served Whitrigg, a hamlet in Cumbria on the English side of the Solway Firth. The station opened on 8 August 1870 by the Caledonian Railway on a line constructed from the Caledonian Railway Main Line at Kirtlebridge across the Glasgow South Western Line, then forming the Solway Junction Railway over the Solway Viaduct to Brayton. The line opened in 1869, but freight had run from 13 September 1869.

History

Whitrigg station was opened by the Solway Junction Railway, then part of the Caledonian Railway. At first the station was a 'flag' station or request stop with passengers wishing to alight informing the guard at Abbey Junction or Bowness, depending on their direction of travel. The gateman likewise signalled if a train was to stop.^[3] From 1 January 1873 a crossing keeper had been appointed appointed and the level crossing itself signalled.^[4] North of the station was a goods siding, worked by a frame which was controlled by train tablet for the section Bowness and Kirkbride Junction.^[5]

The passenger service was never very well patronised and reduced to being just one carriage at the front of an occasional goods train and in September 1917 this was suspended,^[6] but was reinstated in 1920.^[7] Passenger services were finally withdrawn in 1921 and the line south of Annan over the Solway Viaduct was closed completely.

The station had one platform with a simple wooden station building.^[8] The closure of the station was directly linked to the closure of the Solway viaduct.

Disused, the station became the property of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 until sold together with the viaduct.^[9]

Micro-history

The first up goods train used to call at Whitrigg to attach livestock wagons.^[10]

The site today

The station waiting room and platform have been demolished and a private dwelling has been built on the site.

References

Notes

Sources

• Edgar, Stuart & Sinton, John M. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway. Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0853613954. 
• Mullay, A. J. (1990). Rails across the border: the story of Anglo-Scottish Railways. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-186-8. 
• 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. 

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. 
• RAILSCOT on Solway Junction Railway
• Railways of the Solway Plain