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Cockermouth, Keswick And Penrith Railway
All photographs of this railway in date order.
![Token exchange at Blencow between Keswick and Penrith in the 1960s.<br><br>[Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //]](/images/21000/21009.jpg "Blencow")
![Ivatt class 2MT 2-6-0 46432 of 12D Workington shed brings a train into Cockermouth station circa 1964. After a 7 year spell at Workington, the locomotive went to Springs Branch, Wigan, from which it was eventually withdrawn by BR in May 1967. <br><br>[Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //1964]](/images/21000/21499.jpg "Cockermouth")
![Ivatt Class 2 locomotives 46426+46458 westbound near Keswick on 13 June 1964 with train 1X37, the Penrith - Workington leg of the RCTS <I>Solway Ranger</I> special. <br><br>[Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) 13/06/1964]](/images/22000/22126.jpg "Keswick")
![Table 169 from London Midland 1964 timetable showed the DMU service from Penrith through Cockermouth and Keswick to Workington. The basic weekday service of six trains each way is shown (and a seventh between Keswick and Penrith only). The line closed beyond Keswick in 1966 but services from there to Penrith lingered until final closure in 1972 [See image 37228]. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/09/1964]](/images/53000/53209.jpg "Plates, signs and notices")
![48169 comes off the Keswick line on the approach to Penrith with a freight in September 1967. <br><br>[Colin Miller /09/1967]](/images/27000/27643.jpg "Penrith")
![Stanier 8F 2-8-0 no 48169 brings a freight into Penrith off the Keswick line in September 1967 over the new railway bridge spanning the M6 motorway. Construction of the motorway itself is well underway in the background.<br>
<br><br>[Colin Miller 15/09/1967]](/images/21000/21967.jpg "Penrith")
![It's 1971 at Keswick and the steam locomotives are long gone. Nonetheless the water tank still registers <I>FULL</I>...<br><br>[Brian Taylor //1971]](/images/37000/37257.jpg "Keswick")
![Near the end at Keswick. A photograph taken in September 1971, around 6 months prior to closure. The passenger had just arrived from Penrith and was awaiting assistance to transfer her luggage from platform to Hotel via the private linking corridor. [See image 11714]<br><br>[Brian Taylor /09/1971]](/images/37000/37228.jpg "Keswick")
![View west from the already vandalised signal-box at Keswick on the last day of service, Saturday 4th March 1972. <br>
<br><br>[Bill Jamieson 04/03/1972]](/images/34000/34066.jpg "Keswick")
![Looking east in Cockermouth. It seems likely to me that the firestation now occupies the site of the former station.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11608.jpg "Cockermouth")
![Embleton looking east. The railway is now a road.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11610.jpg "Embleton")
![Looking to Keswick at Bassenthwaite Lake.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11709.jpg "Bassenthwaite Lake")
![The station is now a private house. View looks to Keswick.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11710.jpg "Braithwaite")
![What a gem! Keswick looking west towards Workington.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11711.jpg "Keswick")
![Keswick looking west. The island platform has gone (it was to the right) and the site is now a carpark. But there is a plan to re-open the line ...<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11712.jpg "Keswick")
![Keswick looking east. Looks like a tearoom in there.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11713.jpg "Keswick")
![The closed station at Keswick looking east in September 2006, approximately 34 years after closure. The station is intended to be used as the terminus if the line ever re-opens. [See image 11717]<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11714.jpg "Keswick")
![Keswick looking south-east. From the site of the removed island platform.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11715.jpg "Keswick")
![Keswick looking south-west. From the trackbed.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11716.jpg "Keswick")
![The old station is hard by The Keswick Hotel and had a connecting corridor (confirmed as still being there in September 2006).<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11717.jpg "Keswick")
![Threlkeld looking east to Penrith.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11732.jpg "Threlkeld")
![Old goods yard and shed at Threlkeld.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11738.jpg "Threlkeld")
![View looks to Keswick. The old island platform was off to the left. The goods yard is in rather better shape including this building.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11739.jpg "Troutbeck")
![The stationhouse at Troutbeck. View looks east. The goods yard is straight ahead and the island platform was off to the right beyond the building.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11740.jpg "Troutbeck")
![Penruddock looking west. Remains of goods loading bank.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11763.jpg "Penruddock")
![Penruddock looking west. Sadly the station house still stood until very recently - still standing as the housing development took place.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11764.jpg "Penruddock")
![Viaduct just east of Penruddock. View looks west. The viaduct is still BRB owned.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11765.jpg "Penruddock")
![Building by the entry to Blencow station approach.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11766.jpg "Blencow")
![Nice railway theme driveway markers! Looking west at Blencow. Goods yard to right and approach to station, now a house, straight ahead.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11767.jpg "Blencow")
![The old station. View looks west. Note the station nameboard on the right-hand building.<br><br>[Ewan Crawford 27/09/2006]](/images/11000/11768.jpg "Blencow")
![The old station at Keswick may not have a railway line any longer, but on 11 February 2008 it looked in fine fettle when viewed from the car park. The Station Hotel, off to the right of the photograph, has taken over the station building, to which it is linked by a covered walkway, as it was in railway days. <br>
<br>
<br><br>[John McIntyre 11/02/2008]](/images/34000/34973.jpg "Keswick")
![This workers' platform East of Keswick served a bobbin factory nearby. Taken on a soaking wet Monday, while my wife very sensibly stayed in the car. View looks West in May 2012.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/38000/38890.jpg "Low Briery")
![This blocked-up tunnel mouth (east portal, looking west towards Keswick Town) explains why the path is so steep on either side. There is a wooden walkway around the hill to the right - a slightly heart-in-mouth trip on a bike, in the wet!<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/39000/39079.jpg "Keswick")
![After passing through the now infilled tunnel [see image 39079], passengers for Keswick crossed the River Greta at an angle, on an inverted bowstring girder bridge. This view looks South West along the river on 14 May - a bit of a damp day.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/39000/39099.jpg "Keswick")
![A rather stylish maintenance boundary post on Station Road, Keswick, in May 2012. Fitz Park can be seen behind the post. Two hours free parking is available here to explore the adjacent railway path - so long as you can find a space, and they haven't run out of parking discs.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/39000/39166.jpg "Keswick")
![This concrete box tunnel under the Keswick bypass is handy for cyclists and pedestrians following the Keswick branch trackbed, and could conceivably help reopening. But the upward slope in the background indicates an infilled tunnel [see image 39079]. View East in May 2012.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/41000/41571.jpg "Keswick")
![Well, at least the bar's open: a bunch of bedraggled walkers pausing for refreshment alongside the trackbed between Penrith and Keswick, oblivious to the bowstring girder bridge behind them. Notice the front wall of the PW hut, cut down to a 'counter' with a map inset into it.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 14/05/2012]](/images/42000/42775.jpg "Wescoe")
![The Keswick branch closed in 1972, just before the East Lancashire line to Rawtenstall, but with no freight traffic to keep the infrastructure in place it was lost before preservationists could move in and the oft talked about reopening would require massive funding. These are the remains of the island platform at Threlkeld in 2013, minus the stone signalbox and station building that were demolished soon after closure. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 03/02/2013]](/images/42000/42035.jpg "Threlkeld")
![The remains of Threlkeld's island platform in 2013, forty one years after final closure. View looking east towards Troutbeck and Penrith with the council depot that occupies the old goods yard also visible. The platform was subsequently buried under spoil when the depot was rebuilt. [See image 51224]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 03/02/2013]](/images/42000/42152.jpg "Threlkeld")
![Between Threlkeld quarry museum and the A66, this traditional railway carriage home still provides a roof over someones head in May 2014. Not sure what the National Park policy is on this sort of thing.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/05/2014]](/images/47000/47668.jpg "Threlkeld")
![Looking West from the station area at Threlkeld in May 2015. All traces of the platforms have been buried in spoil after rebuilding of the council depot [see image 42152].<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/05/2014]](/images/51000/51224.jpg "Threlkeld")
