South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway

Introduction

This line is closed. A short section of track has been re-layed at Kirkby Stephen to the north of the station site. There is a hope to open the station (the main building remains intact) and the Eden Valley Railway through to Appleby.






Dates

  /03/1861South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Barnard Castle to Barras opened.
  /08/1861South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Tebay to Barras opened. Line opened throughout.
09/06/1862Eden Valley Railway
Opened from Kirkby Stephen (South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway) to Clifton [Moor] (just south of Penrith on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, the junction giving access to the south). Engineer: Thomas Bouch.
30/06/1862South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Absorbed by Stockton and Darlington Railway.
  /  /1874South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Much of route between Tebay and Barnard Castle doubled. The whole of the route between Kirkby Stephen and Barnard Castle was doubled - this involved the re-construction of a number of viaducts which were built next to the original ones.
  /  /1952South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Tebay to Kirkby Stephen closed to passengers. Diverted (and tour) passenger trains still use the route. Passenger trains continue to use the Eden Valley Railway from Penrith to Kirkby Stephen and continue to Barnard Castle.
  /  /1961South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Tebay to Kirkby Stephen closed.
22/01/1962Eden Valley RailwaySouth Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Barnard Castle [2nd] to Kirkby Stephen East to Penrith (Eden Valley Junction) closed to passengers.
22/01/1962South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Hartley (excluded) to Barnard Castle (Tees Valley Junction) (excluded) closed completely.
  /  /1963South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Belah viaduct, on Kirkby Stephen to Barnard Castle line, demolished for scrap - poem found in a support column.
  /  /1970South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway
Hartley to Kirkby Stephen closed completely.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.











Tees Valley Junction. 67258 (above) waiting for NER 0.6.0 67100 on Penrith-Darlington train to clear the junction. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 13/04/1951
1 of 1 images.


Looking north in October 2021 from the B6277 Lartington Lane across to the upper section of the former Lartington station house on the closed Barnard ...
David Pesterfield 10/10/2021
Looking west in October 2021 along the B6277 Lartington Lane across the road bridge over the trackbed from the former Barnard Castle to Kirkby Stephen ...
David Pesterfield 10/10/2021
Looking at the entrance to the Kirkby Stephen bound platform at the former Lartington station, on the line from Barnard Castle, in October 2021. The ...
David Pesterfield 10/10/2021
View east in Oct 2021 along the vehicular access road to the former Lartington station site, with the former goods shed seen to the left and the large ...
David Pesterfield 10/10/2021
4 of 7 images. more


Amid all the uncertainties of modern life, it is comforting to know that Bowes station continues its genteel decline. The shed on the left, being ...
Ken Strachan 31/07/2021
Looking west along part of the former Stainmore route in 2010, on the climb west from Barnard Castle, with the remains of Bowes station behind the ...
John Furnevel 20/03/2010
The station access steps at Bowes (this is the lower flight, looking West) are still present, but the farmer - possibly troubled by trespass and theft ...
Ken Strachan 31/07/2021
The wet and windswept remains of Bowes station on the Stainmore route looking north across the trackbed in March 2010, more than 48 years after ...
John Furnevel 20/03/2010
4 of 9 images. more


After topping Stainmore Summit, westbound trains on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway commenced a 3 mile descent towards Barras. This ...
John Furnevel 27/03/2010
Looks like rain. The descent from Stainmore summit on the former South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway on 27 March 2010. View is west along ...
John Furnevel 27/03/2010
Scene in the High Pennines, to the east of Barras, on 27 March 2010. View is east along the trackbed of the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway ...
John Furnevel 27/03/2010
Old bridge over the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway at Stainmore in the high Pennines, photographed on 10 October 2009. View is south west ...
John Furnevel 10/10/2009
4 of 10 images. more


Station remains at Barras on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, looking west along the descent towards Kirkby Stephen in October 2009. The ...
John Furnevel 10/10/2009
Barras looking east to Stainmore Summit. ...
Ewan Crawford //
View west over the remains of Barras station towards the Lake District on 10 October, just as the rain started to fall. Opened by the South Durham & ...
John Furnevel 10/10/2009
The highest mainline station in England from 1861 until Dent opened in 1877. This is Barras, midway between the site of the Belah viaduct and ...
Mark Bartlett 28/12/2008
4 of 4 images.


This station closed in 1962. It is partly preserved and restored with a short length of track and is now a Heritage Centre
...

More details

See also
Eden Valley Railway
Looking north over Kirkby Stephen East in 2001 with a class 20 under wraps.
...
Bill Roberton //2001
Looking north to Kirkby Stephen East station in 2001. ...
Bill Roberton //2001
A platelayers motorised trolley, nicely preserved at Kirkby Stephen East on 21st September 2013. At the time the trolley was stood on the east end of ...
John McIntyre 21/09/2013
Kirkby Stephen East NER 910. This locomotive currently resides at Kirkby Stephen East station, home of the Stainmore Railway Company, on loan from the ...
Stephen Willetts 02/04/2022
4 of 32 images. more


This was a single platform station, the platform being on the south side of the line. The railway was single track and there was a passing loop at the station, east of the platform. The loop was on the north side of the main track.
...

More details
The large Limestone Kilns adjacent to the NER (SDLUR) trackbed at Smardale Gill, two miles east of Ravenstonedale and 840 ft a.o.d. Looking west in ...
Brian Taylor /05/2015
A close up of the abandoned railway cottages with gates leading directly to the trackbed of the SDLUR line just west of Smardale Gill viaduct in May ...
Brian Taylor 08/05/2015
Smardale station, now a home, has recently been modernised and extended. The station itself closed in 1952 although freight and excursions from the ...
Mark Bartlett 24/09/2008
Close to the Settle & Carlisle Railway lies Smardale on the former Kirkby Stephen East to Tebay line. In this view looking north through the old ...
Mark Bartlett 24/09/2008
4 of 4 images.


An interesting dry-stone walled cutting on the NER (SDLUR) route from Tebay to Kirkby Stephen, approx. 1 mile east of Ravenstonedale Station. Sandy ...
Brian Taylor 08/06/2015
The disused trackbed from Kirkby Stephen East peters out at Ravenstonedale station and for the rest of the way to Tebay lies under the A685 road, ...
Mark Bartlett 28/12/2008
Signalbox at Ravenstonedale. ...
Roy Lambeth 20/1/1962
3 of 3 images.


The former station building at Gaisgill is a completely different design to Ravenstonedale and not immediately recognisable to drivers on the A685 ...
Mark Bartlett 28/12/2008
1 of 1 images.


88003 'Genesis' appears to make light work of lifting the fully loaded Tesco train up the 1:75 out of Tebay, seen passing Greenholme, on 29th March ...
Mark Bartlett 29/03/2023
46100 'Royal Scot' attacks the gradient at Greenholme with 1Z20, the 05:50 Rugby to Carlisle 'The Lakelander' on 11 February 2023. Tebay village and ...
Stephen Willetts 11/02/2023
68005 'Defiant' has sole charge of a Mossend to Daventry container train that has just descended from Shap Summit, and is crossing the River Lune at ...
Mark Bartlett 29/03/2023
28 November 1967 and Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No 75032 is at Tebay shed, preparing for its next turn of duty banking a freight train up to Shap Summit. ...
Colin Kirkwood 28/11/1967
4 of 35 images. more