Maryport and Carlisle Railway

Introduction

This line is open.




Dates

  /  /1836Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Survey by George Stephenson.
12/07/1837Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Act passed.
05/07/1840Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Opened between Maryport south quay and Arkleby pits, 7 miles.
12/04/1841Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Line extended from Arkleby to Aspatria.
10/05/1843Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Opened from Carlisle Water Lane / Bogfield (and junction the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway) to Wigton.
02/12/1844Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Line extended from Aspatria to Low Row [Cumbria]. Brayton opened for Sir Wilfred Lawson MP of Brayton Hall.
02/12/1844Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Extended from Wigton to Brookfield (termporary terminus).
30/12/1844Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Carlisle Water Lane replaced by Carlisle Crown Street on a short Maryport owned branch which was accessed by reversal from the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway which the Maryport joined at Bog Junction.
10/02/1845Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Completion of main line by opening from Low Row [Cumbria] to Brookfield (a temporary terminus which closed).
01/09/1847Caledonian Railway Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Carlisle Citadel opened. The short Maryport and Carlisle Railway branch to Carlisle Crown Street is crossed, on the level, by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway on its approach to the new Carlisle Citadel. This approach had crossed the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway on the level too, just to the south east.
01/10/1848Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Leased by George Hudson.
17/03/1849Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway gains possession of Carlisle Crown Street and demolishes it.
18/03/1849Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Trains terminate at Carlisle London Road.
01/01/1850Maryport and Carlisle Railway
George Hudson gives up control.
01/11/1850Maryport and Carlisle Railway
New directors appointed.
31/12/1850Railway Clearing House
By this date, Ardrossan Railway, Caledonian Railway, Cockermouth and Workington Railway, Eastern Counties Railway, East Lincolnshire Railway, Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway, Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway, Great Northern Railway, Huddersfield and Manchester Railway (London and North Western Railway), Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, Maryport and Carlisle Railway, North British Railway, Preston and Wyre Railway, Dock and Harbour, Shrewsbury and Chester Railway, South Staffordshire Railway, Stockton and Darlington Railway, Stockton and Hartlepool Railway, St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, Stirling and Dunfermline Railway, Whitehaven Junction Railway and York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway join.
  /  /1851Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Arkleby closed.
02/04/1851Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Agreement reached for access to Carlisle Citadel. On the same day the Maryport line makes first use of the station. Approach from Maryport was made via the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, on which a reversal was required, and a short Maryport owned curve opened in 1851.
01/06/1851Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Carlisle Crown Street's old tracks attached to Carlisle Citadel by permission of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and Caledonian Railway.
  /  /1852Carlisle Citadel Approach [1st] (Maryport and Carlisle Railway)
The Maryport and Carlisle Railway opened a curve (which crossed the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway on the level) to reach Crown Street Goods [MCR] and Carlisle Citadel, the new approach avoiding a reversal carried out between 1851 and 1852 to reach the station. The short Maryport curve from the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway to the London and North Western Railway closes.
08/08/1853Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Connection from Forks Junction, west of Carlisle Bogfield, opened. (Carlisle Bogfield was between Rome Street Junction and Bog Junction.)
01/09/1853Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Company agrees to pay £300 per annum for access to Carlisle Citadel.
  /  /1856Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Early in 1856 Crofton opened for the Brisco family at Crofton Hall.
  /  /1860Maryport and Carlisle Railway
More harbour tracks and a new station at Maryport opened.
  /  /1861Caledonian Railway Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Agreement to enlarge Carlisle Citadel station, owned by the Caledonian Railway and Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. A joint committee is to be created which will include the Glasgow and South Western Railway, Maryport and Carlisle Railway and North British Railway.
  /  /1861Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Line doubled throughout (including Aspatria - the southbound track being new).
  /  /1864Solway Junction Railway
Act receives Royal assent for a line consisting to two parts: Kirtlebridge (Caledonian Railway) to Kirkbride Junction (Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock) and Abbeyholme Junction (Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock) to Brayton (Maryport and Carlisle Railway). The first part will cross the considerable Solway Viaduct between Scotland an England. The Act included an Annan Waterfoot Branch and a Port Carlisle Branch both of which were not built.
  /  /1865Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Running powers for the Caledonian Railway, who would work the Solway Junction Railway, obtained for the Maryport and Carlisle Railway between Brayton Junction and Brayton.
  /  /1866Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Line from Aspatria to Wigton via Mealsgate opened.
  /  /1867Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Derwent branch from Bulgill to Brigham on the Workington to Cockermouth line opened.
13/09/1869Solway Junction Railway
Annan [Shawhill] to Brayton opened to minerals. Brayton Shed opened at Brayton with two roads, sidings and a turntable in the junction between the Solway Junction Railway and the Maryport and Carlisle Railway.
16/09/1869Solway Junction Railway
Abbey Junction [CR] (Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock) to Brayton opened for goods (Maryport and Carlisle Railway).
08/07/1877Carlisle Realignment (Maryport and Carlisle Railway)
(Or 7th.) New deviation of the approach to Carlisle Citadel for the Maryport and Carlisle Railway opened. Railway No 8. Currock Junction to Carlisle Citadel - opened due to the modifications to the goods avoiding lines through Carlisle.
  /  /1887Cleator and Workington Junction Railway
Opened from Workington to Linefoot on the Maryport and Carlisle Railway.
  /  /1921Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Wigton to Mealsgate closed to passengers.
  /  /1923Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Currock Shed (M&C) closed. Maryport Works closed.
  /  /1930Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Mealsgate line closed for passengers to Aspatria.
  /  /1935Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Bullgill to Brigham closed to passengers.
15/12/1946Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Crofton closed to passengers.
05/06/1950Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Curthwaite, Leegate, Brayton and Dearham Bridge closed.
  /06/1951Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Cummersdale closed.
07/02/1955Maryport and Carlisle Railway
DMUs start to be used.
  /03/1960Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Bulgill closed.
27/09/1965Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Brayton closed to passengers.
  /01/1998Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Aspatria signal box closed, unused for many years

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

A strange little terminus and branch, built 1844, giving the Maryport and Carlisle a terminus in Carlisle, not just the 1843 connection to the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. Approach from Maryport required a reversal on the Newcastle line. It replaced Water Lane.
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Bog Junction looking west to Rome Street Junction in 1998. Note the protective buffer on the westbound line, but no buffer needed on the eastbound. ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
1 of 1 images.












68004 Rapid and 68003 Astute top and tail a three coach set seen leaving the request stop at Dalston on the 08.51 to Barrow-in-Furness on the last ...
Gordon Steel 17/05/2018
Two car dmu 156475 in Northern Rail colours approaching the request stop at Dalston at 10.00 with the service from Whitehaven to Carlisle. A toot on ...
Gordon Steel 17/05/2018
The stopping point for North bound Loco hauled trains at Dalston (request stop) ...
Gordon Steel 17/05/2018
Royal Scot 46115 Scots Guardsman brings the Great Britain VII tour north through Dalston, Cumbria, on Day 4 of the round Britain trip. ...
John McIntyre 29/04/2014
4 of 29 images. more


Ex LMS 4-6-0 no.46115 Scots Guardsman approaches Curthwaite between Wigton and Carlisle while working a railtour on 16 April 2016. The former station ...
John McIntyre 16/04/2016
The 1525 hrs Carlisle to Preston via the Cumbrian Coast passes the site of the long closed station at Curthwaite. The water tank on the left has the ...
John McIntyre 16/04/2016
2 of 2 images.




Sprinter bubble car 153331, on a Northern service from Carlisle to Workington and the Cumbrian Coast, calls at Wigton on 15th February 2016. ...
Brian Smith 15/02/2016
DRS 37423 working 2C45 Barrow to Carlisle loco hauled service top n tail with DBSO 9707 arriving at Wigton ...
Ken Browne 09/04/2016
WCRC 57316+57313 passing Wigton on 9 April 2016 with 1Z32 Newport to Carlisle charter. [Ref query 23559] ...
Ken Browne 09/04/2016
DRS 37606+37603 working 6c46 Sellafield to Carlisle Kingmoor nuclear flasks. ...
Ken Browne 09/04/2016
4 of 12 images. more










This junction was east of Brayton station. The southern end of the Solway Junction Railway, controlled by the Caledonian Railway, joined the Maryport and Carlisle Railway at a junction which allowed access to the Solway line from the south. This line is the railway which crossed the Solway Firth on the mile long Solway Viaduct.
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See also
Solway Junction Railway
Just beyond Brayton Junction the route of the old Solway Junction Railway is clearly visible nearly ninety years after the last train passed through. ...
Mark Bartlett 02/12/2021
The last freight train to use the old Solway Junction line from Abbeytown to Brayton, near Aspatria, ran in 1933 (the last passengers had been carried ...
Mark Bartlett 02/12/2021
2 of 2 images.




Aspatria station looking to Maryport. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Aspatria station, seen on a sunny 9th March 2018 looking towards Carlisle. The station building is in private use and this is a request stop nowadays. ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
Aspatria, looking to Workington in 2001. ...
Ewan Crawford 24/06/2001
3 of 3 images.




Although Bullgill closed in 1960 the remains of the Carlisle platform can still be seen, and the steps leading down from the road. The house alongside ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
DRS 37423 failed at Bootle on the 0546 Barrow to Carlisle service on 9th March 2018. The train eventually arrived at Sellafield 105 minutes late where ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
At first glance the bridge at Bullgill station appears to be over single rather than double track but it is one of several Maryport & Carlisle ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
3 of 3 images.




This is a single platform station which formerly had a very substantial station building. Goods only lines are on the east side which ran south before sweeping round to the north to serve the Maryport Docks.
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Maryport in 2014. Prominent in this picture are the harbour facilities. The outer one is the Senhouse Dock, now a marina. Inland from that is the ...
Mike Burke 18/04/2014
At one time Maryport had a huge stone built station building, but only ever a single platform. Nowadays this shelter suffices at the unstaffed ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
The Workington - Maryport shuttle pulls into Maryport from the south in February 2010, having waited for a service from Carlisle to clear the single ...
Ewan Crawford /02/2010
The signal box at Maryport is still quite busy as all Whitehaven direction trains have to cross over to the platform road and then cross back again to ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
4 of 7 images. more








Elizabeth Dock, one of the two main docks in Maryport Harbour in March 2018. From the 1850s there were sidings on both sides of this dock, which was ...
Mark Bartlett 09/03/2018
1 of 1 images.