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Garstang And Knot End Railway
All photographs of this railway in date order.
![An unidentified LMS Black 5 crossing the minor road at Cogie Hill with a goods train returning from Pilling towards Garstang, probably sometime in the early 1960s. Between 1908 and the 1930 withdrawal of passenger services there was a small request halt here. The crossing keeper's cottage survived the 1963 closure of the line. [See image 18313] for a modern day comparison from the same spot.<br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/60000/60670.jpg "Cogie Hill")
![A <I>Black 5</I> pauses at Nateby on route to Pilling on the truncated Knott End branch, probably in the early 1960s. By tradition any train on the line, right to the end, was known as <I>The Pilling Pig</I>. Nateby station was remote from the tiny village and saw little traffic before closure in 1930. The station site has since been built on but some railway features remain. [See image 22572] <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/60000/60849.jpg "Nateby")
![Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46430 shunting mixed goods wagons alongside the small goods shed at Garstang Town station. This loco was new to Preston shed in December 1948 but later went to Stoke-on-Trent so this image will probably be from the early 1950s. <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/60000/60860.jpg "Garstang Town")
![An unidentified LMS 8F 2-8-0 shunting alongside the old G&KER platform at Garstang & Catterall station. This view looks north from the station footbridge with the Lancaster Canal visible to the left of the steam plume. The main goods yard was behind the camera but the Creamery alongside the Up line also used rail for many years. The line immediately to the left of the main running lines beyond the island platform was the old link to the Knott End branch, which also later formed a long Down goods loop for the main line. [See image 19991] <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/60000/60897.jpg "Garstang and Catterall")
![A view eastwards towards the WCML from just outside Garstang Town station before final closure. In the foreground is the bridge over the River Wyre. This was demolished after closure but later another bridge was built in connection with water treatment and flood control facilities. [See image 28295] for a similar but 21st Century view. <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/61000/61179.jpg "Garstang Town")
![A view of Garstang Town station, probably from the early 1960s. The distinctive narrow station building with the slightly wider signal box at the far end [See image 61091] is on the island platform, which in passenger carrying days was accessed by a footbridge. Beyond and to the right is the old GKER engine shed, later dismantled and rebuilt nearby as a farm building. Straight ahead is the water tower with the small goods shed on the left. Final closure came in 1965 and the site is now covered by a housing development known as Station Way. <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/61000/61279.jpg "Garstang Town")
![Black 5 45449 waits for the gates at Nateby Crossing Lane to be secured before continuing with a trip working to Pilling in the early 1960s. 1963 saw the closure of the line between Garstang Town and Pilling but the crossing cottage survives in 2017 [See image 18317] although its future is now less certain as the land between here and the A6 has been approved for housing development. <br><br>[Knott End Collection //]](/images/61000/61341.jpg "Nateby")
![An old grainy photo showing the first locomotive of the Garstang & Knot End Railway at Garstang Town around 1871. This was <I>Hebe</I>, a Manning Wardle 0-4-2ST and when the line opened in December 1870 it was their only locomotive. After more than a year of continuous use it broke down, leading to financial problems for the G&KER and <I>Hebe</I> being repossessed. The line closed in 1872 but reopened in 1875 with two new locomotives, Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST <I>Union</I> and Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST <I>Farmers Friend</I>, which had a piercing whistle and became unofficially known as <I>The Pilling Pig</I>. Garstang station was later rebuilt as an island platform.<br><br>[Knott End Collection //1871]](/images/61000/61114.jpg "Garstang Town")
![An old picture of Nateby Crossing Cottage, on the Garstang & Knott End Railway, at the turn of the last century, [see image 18317] recently submitted to a local newspaper in North Lancashire. [Courtesy Mrs Soar of Pilling].<br><br>[Mark Bartlett collection //1900]](/images/20000/20599.jpg "Nateby")
![1910 OS map extract of the Knott End Railway's Garstang Town station, then on the outskirts of the town. The layout includes the island platform, goods shed carriage sheds and also the engine shed of this independent railway, later the smallest constituent of the LMS. The station closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods in 1965. The station site was later cleared for housing but before that happened the engine shed was dismantled and later re-erected less than half a mile away at a local hauliers depot [See image 60593]. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland http://maps.nls.uk/index.html.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett //1910]](/images/60000/60594.jpg "Garstang Town")
![Ex-LNWR railmotor LMS No. 10698, paused (and posed) at Nateby whilst working a passenger service between Knott End and Garstang. Might this have been a <I>Last day of Service</I> photo? Services ceased on and from 31st March 1930 and Nateby closed completely although goods trains continued to pass through. 10698 was renumbered as 29988 in 1933 and became the last of its type in service running through the war until withdrawal in 1948. <br><br>[Knott End Collection 29/03/1930]](/images/60000/60981.jpg "Nateby")
![Black 5 45438 undertakes some leisurely shunting at Garstang Town station, probably in the 1950s judging by the amount of traffic still being carried. This view looks east towards the WCML. The old GKER carriage sheds were still standing at this time, albeit trackless. The large house in the background, Beech Mount, is still on Lancaster Rd in Garstang today but everything else in the photo is now covered by a housing development known as Station Way. [See image 60594] for a 1910 diagram of the station site. <br><br>[Knott End Collection //1955]](/images/60000/60695.jpg "Garstang Town")
![Black 5 45070 enters Garstang Town station on 13th August 1959 with a single brakevan. Taken nearly thirty years after passenger services finished, this photo clearly shows the very unusual signal box at Garstang, which was on the island platform but at right angles to the tracks. The signal box was wider than the main station building, although it shared the roof profile, allowing a view to the east for the signalman. <br><br>[Knott End Collection 13/08/1959]](/images/61000/61091.jpg "Garstang Town")
![Cogie Hill Halt (SD 446468) opened in 1870 and closed in 1930. The line crossed the road on a diagonal and goods trains to Pilling continued to pass through until 1963 [See image 60670]. The halt was situated just beyond the fence. Level crossing gate posts are still in situ at the road side although the track bed formation towards Pilling has disappeared here. <br>
<br>
<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/02/2008]](/images/18000/18313.jpg "Cogie Hill")
![Cogie Hill Halt (SD 446468) Cogie Hill Crossing Cottage looking towards Nateby and Garstang.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/02/2008]](/images/18000/18314.jpg "Cogie Hill")
![Garstang Road Halt (SD 423476) on the outskirts of Pilling village was a late opening in 1923 and closed in 1930. The crossing keepers cottage is still in use as a residence with outbuildings across the old formation. View looking towards Garstang.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/02/2008]](/images/18000/18320.jpg "Garstang Road")
![Pilling Station (SD 413478) opened in 1870 only to close in 1872. It opened again in 1875 as the Knott End railway although Pilling would be the terminus of the line until Knott End was reached in 1908. [See image 29967] for the sparse 1915 passenger timetable. Passenger services ceased in 1930 but goods continued until 1963. The station house has been extended across the formation and an additional house built. Industrial buildings occupy the former goods yard. The railway barrow is a nice touch by the current owners. View looking towards Garstang from the site of the old level crossing on the A588<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/02/2008]](/images/18000/18322.jpg "Pilling")
![This deceptively quiet and peaceful cutting is less than 200 yards from the WCML and the M6 motorway. The location, now a private nature reserve, can be reached along a permissive pathway along the old trackbed from Garstang. The Royal Train was stabled here overnight on at least 2 occasions during WWII as a safe place on the way to Scotland. (Map Ref SD 505455). <br>
<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 30/03/2008]](/images/18000/18535.jpg "Garstang Town")
![One of the few substantial structures on the line to Knott End was the girder bridge over the Lancaster Canal but all that remains following final trains in 1963 is the crumbling west side abutment. View towards Lancaster. Map Reference SD 478457.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 11/06/2008]](/images/19000/19403.jpg "Nateby")
![Nateby Crossing Cottage (SD 483457). There was never a halt here the station itself being some distance away to the west. In the background the A6 road can just be seen climbing to cross the old track bed, which can be seen from that road when travelling north. For a very early view of this location [See image 20599]. The cottage is under threat in 2017 as the land between Nateby Crossing Lane and the A6 is earmarked for building. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 23/06/2008]](/images/18000/18317.jpg "Nateby")
![Double bridge. On the WCML, just north of the site of Garstang and Catterall, are two bridges. Each has an extra, single line, arch on the down side. These were for the Knott End line that ran parallel to the main line for nearly a mile before diverging to the west. This track also formed a long Down Goods loop. Both bridges were rebuilt for the 1974 electrification but thankfully the Knott End line arches were left intact. TPE 185136 passes the southerly bridge travelling north. SD 508447. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 26/07/2008]](/images/19000/19991.jpg "Garstang and Catterall")
![One of the few sections of the Garstang and Knott End Railway trackbed that can still be clearly seen is this stretch immediately to the west of the A6 main road. This view is towards Nateby Crossing Cottage [See image 18317] taken from the former bridge over the line, which closed to passengers in 1930 and completely in 1963. To the east of this point the trackbed is built over until it emerges on the other side of Garstang near the river. Map Ref SD 485457. [2016 update: This short stretch of G&KER trackbed, the crossing cottage and surrounding land have been earmarked for housing and may well disappear]. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 15/11/2008]](/images/21000/21495.jpg "Nateby")
![Even in 1915, remotely located Nateby was a request stop station. [See image 29967] for the 1915 timetable. Nateby closed to passengers in 1930 but the <I>Pilling Pig</I> goods train continued to run through until 1963. This house has been built on the old down platform, but the ramp can still be seen and the tree stands where the tracks used to be. View east towards Garstang at Map Ref SD 458461. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 18/02/2009]](/images/22000/22572.jpg "Nateby")
![The remains of the bridge that, until 1963, carried the line to Pilling and Knott End over the Lancaster Canal, which can be seen to the right of the picture. The original height of the trackbed can be seen but in the field all trace of the line has been removed and only the boundary hedge remains. For a view of the bridge remains from the towpath [See image 19403].<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/08/2009]](/images/25000/25258.jpg "Nateby")
![80 years to the day since its closure to passengers on 31st March 1930, this is the view west along the old GKER railway embankment east of Garstang towards the site of Garstang Town station. The station site itself has been built over. The railway bridge over the River Wyre was demolished after closure to goods in 1965 but a new bridge was installed as part of the water treatment and flood defence scheme seen here. My grandfather used to catch the <I>Pilling Pig</I> from Garstang Town to Garstang & Catterall to go to school in Lancaster but this was never a convenient journey for local residents and direct buses along the A6 later put paid to the train service. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/03/2010]](/images/28000/28294.jpg "Garstang Town")
![On the 80th anniversary of its closure to passengers (310330) this is the view along the old GKER railway embankment east of Garstang towards the WCML. Just beyond the gate, part of the embankment has been removed for a flood basin scheme but beyond that the footpath joins it again as far as the cutting near the WCML. [See image 18535].<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/03/2010]](/images/28000/28295.jpg "Garstang Town")
![Cockerham Cross was a wayside halt on the Garstang & Knott End Railway between Nateby and Pilling. The 1915 timetable shows trains stopping on request on Thursdays and Saturdays only and there may never have been any station structure as such. There was a level crossing however and 49 years after the last goods train from Pilling passed this way all four crossing gate posts survive as does one gate, albeit buried in the hedge as seen here. This view looks north along the lane which the line crossed at right angles. Map Ref SD435471. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 21/01/2012]](/images/37000/37292.jpg "Cockerham Cross")
![One of the few discernible stretches of trackbed on the old Knott End line is at Nateby but it has been turned into a farm access road as seen here. This view taken from the level crossing looks west towards Pilling with the old station area immediately behind the camera. [See image 22572]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 21/01/2012]](/images/37000/37306.jpg "Nateby")
![This Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST (1885/1955) has been cosmetically restored and is displayed at the entrance to the caravan site that is built on the Knott End line trackbed in Pilling. The loco has been named <I>Pilling Pig</I>, an unofficial name for all trains on the railway which originated with the 1875 loco <I>Farmer's Friend</I> which had a particularly squealing whistle. The number 11302 was actually carried by Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST <I>Knott End</I>, built in 1908 and scrapped by the LMS in 1925. <I>The Pilling Piglet</I> behind may be a representation of the ex-LNWR Railmotors that plied the line from 1923 to 1930. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 29/01/2015]](/images/50000/50174.jpg "Pilling")
![The old GKER engine shed from Garstang Town station seen in August 2017. It was dismantled in the late 1970s and removed a few hundred yards from its original site for re-use by a livestock haulier. Originally a two road shed it was modified when rebuilt with a single end door seen here and a new side entrance but uses the same frame, wall panels and roof. Photographed on private land with kind permission of the owner (who as a young man had helped with the shed removal from the old station). [See image 60594] for a 1910 map showing the original shed location. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 26/08/2017]](/images/60000/60593.jpg "Garstang Town")
![An old platelayers hut still stands on the trackbed immediately to the east of the Pilling station site. It is in good condition and appears to have been <I>adopted</I> by the new landowner. The last goods train left the station in 1963. <br><br>[Knott End Collection 25/11/2017]](/images/62000/62072.jpg "Pilling")
