Longtown

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Longtown (1861-1969)

Opened on the Border Union Railway (North British Railway).

Description

This was a two platform station. The two storey main station building was on the southbound platform. To the immediate north of this was a staff bothy and a large water tank. To the south, over a level crossing, was Longtown Branch Junction where the routes to Carlisle and Gretna [NBR] divided. To the north was a goods yard on the east side and locomotive shed on the west side.

The Carlisle route crossed the River Esk, just to the south. The junction to the south was a double track junction, the Gretna route rapidly reducing to a single line. There were several sidings in the 'V' of the junction by the Gretna line. The signal box was on the west side of the line, south of the level crossing.

North of the station, on the west side, and approached from a reversing spur from the northbound line, was a two road shed, closed in 1923. No turntable.

North and on the east side was the goods yard. This had several looped sidings off the southbound line with at least three loading banks and a goods shed.

For the Great War there were two boxes, north and south. The north box closed in 1923 but the north, a tall stone built building, survived just south of the station and by the level crossing.

Two large yards were added in the Second World War. A yard was laid out on the west side of the station, dead end sidings approached from north of the station. North of this, and the goods yard, a second set of sidings were laid out on the east side of the line, sidings approached from the south.

Longtown itself was to the east, reached a road crossing Longtown Bridge (crossing the River Esk).

With the opening of Kingmoor Marshalling Yard the Gretna [NB] line became the northern approach to the yard from the Waverley Route. The northbound connection from the branch was removed.

The station closed to passengers in 1969 and the line north closed. The route south was singled later in 1969 and the box reduced to a gate box. A year later this approach to the Government factory was abandoned and that from the West Coast Main Line took over completely. The lines south to Brunthill Siding and east to Bush-on-Esk Signal Box closed leaving very little of the Waverley Route remaining.

The site was cleared after closure. Although a small portion of red sandstone retaining wall remains north of the level crossing nothing else is obvious. The station site is now a warehouse. The goods yard an area of flattened ground. The viaduct is gone and the Gretna line obliterated by warehousing. Beyond the station area the trackbeds remain.

In 1899 a temporary signal box Longtown Viaduct was opened to the south on the main line.

During the Great War an additional box opened north of the station Longtown North between 1918 and 1923.

Tags

Station junction

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map




Chronology Dates

29/10/1861Border Union Railway (North British Railway)
Opened from Canal Junction [Carlisle] to Scotch Dyke. Trains run from Carlisle Citadel. Stations opened at Harker, West Linton [Cumbria], Longtown, Scotch Dyke. North British Railway trains use Carlisle Citadel for the first time.
07/01/1969Border Union Railway (North British Railway)
Hawick [2nd] to Longtown (excluded) closed to all traffic.
31/08/1970Border Union Railway (North British Railway)
Longtown to Brunthill Siding (excluded) closed to freight. Longtown remains accessible via Gretna.

News items

14/11/2023Ministry of Defence builds storage depot at Longtown in Cumbria [BBC News]
26/01/2023Penrith MP pushes for reopening of Cumbrian train routes [News and Star]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Scotland - The Lowlands and the Borders v. 6 (Regional railway history series)

An Illustrated History of Carlisle's Railways

Border Country Branch Line Album

Border Railway Portfolio

Borders Railway Rambles

Carlisle to Hawick: The Waverley Route (Scml)

Forgotten Railways: Scotland

Hawick 1897: Roxburghshire Sheet 25.07 (Old Ordnance Survey Maps of Roxburghshire)

Last Years of the Waverley Route

North British Railway, Vol. 1 (Standard Railway History)

North British Railway, Vol. 2 (Standard Railway History)

Railways Of Scotland 2: The Waverley Route DVD - Cinerail

The North British Railway a History

The Waverley Route Through Time

The Waverley Route: The District Controller's View 'Edinburgh (Waverley) - Carlisle Via Hawick'

Waverley Route: The battle for the Borders Railway

Waverley Route: The Life, Death and Rebirth of the Borders Railway

Waverley: Portrait of a Famous Route