Cumberland and Westmorland Convalescent Institution railway station

Cumberland and Westmorland Convalescent Institution railway station was a terminus off the short Blitterlees Branch off the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, within Silloth itself.[6] The larger railway ran from Carlisle, England. The station does not appear on standard railway maps,[7] but it can be discerned with a magnifying glass on at least two published maps[8] and clearest of all on the 1914 25" OS map.[9]

Cumberland and Westmorland Convalescent Institution
The station with a typical train, around the beginning of the 20th century
Location	Silloth, Allerdale England
Coordinates	54.8651°N 3.3967°W
Grid reference	NY104531
Platforms	1[1][2]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Company
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1862	Opened
Unclear,[3] either about 1928[4] or after 1937[5]	Closed
Location
Cumberland and Westmorland Convalescent Institution Location in present-day Allerdale, Cumbria Cumberland and Westmorland Convalescent Institution Location in present-day Cumbria, England

Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway
Overview Locale Cumbria Dates of operation 1854–1964 Predecessor Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway Successor NBR Technical Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Silloth Battery Extension Silloth Convalescent Home Silloth Docks and Pier Silloth Causewayhead Blackdyke Halt Abbey Town Solway Junction Railway southbound Abbey Junction Sleightholme Solway Junction Railway northbound Kirkbride New Dykes Brow Port Carlisle Glasson Drumburgh Burgh-by-Sands Kirkandrews Waverley Line northbound Port Carlisle Junction Carlisle Canal Carlisle West Coast Main Line southbound│northbound

The station's sole purpose was to serve the convalescent home of the same name. Although this was the home's formal title, it was widely referred to as "Silloth Convalescent Home", as was the station. The station never appeared in public timetables.[10]

"Invalid Trains" to the station were run on an ad hoc basis, though for many years they commonly ran on Thursdays around 15:00, preceded by a shunter or a guard on foot, as the line to the station was a siding without signals or fencing.[5][11]

The unstaffed station was minimalist, consisting of a single wooden platform next to the single track.

The home and station opened in 1862. One source states that the station is believed to have closed around 1928, whilst another, with local knowledge, refers to it as both mentioned in the 1937 Sectional Appendix and "open during the Second World War".[5] In 2015 the home was still operating.[12]

See also

• List of closed railway stations in Britain

References

1. The station, via Cumbrian Railways Association
2. Biddle 1981, p. 66.
3. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 126.
4. Quick 2009, p. 353.
5. Thomlinson 1985, p. 74.
6. Suggitt 2008, p. 103.
7. Jowett 1989, Map 36.
8. Puxley 2009, pp. 32 & 44.
9. The station on a 1914 OS map, via National Library of Scotland
10. Robinson 2002, p. 41.
11. Liddell 1984, p. 114.
12. The convalescent home, via Its own website

Sources

• Biddle, Gordon (1981). Railway Stations in the North West. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-644-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Liddell, H. M. (March 1984). Slater, John (ed.). "Shot at Silloth". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 130 (995). ISSN 0033-8923.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Puxley, Chris (2009). The Port of Silloth 1858 - 2009: A Pictorial History Through 150 Years of a Solway Port. Portishead: Bernard McCall. ISBN 978-1-902953-42-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
• Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-205-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Thomlinson, G. (February 1985). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Rails on the Solway - 2". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 3 (5). ISSN 1466-6812.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
• Edgar, Stuart; Sinton, John H. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway. Catrine: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-395-4. LP176.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Marsh, John; Garbutt, John (1999). Cumbrian Railways. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7509-2043-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mullay, Alexander J. (2006). Rails Across the Border. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-3666-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Robinson, Peter W. (August 1995). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Maryport & Carlisle 150". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 5 (12). ISSN 1466-6812.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Robinson, Peter W. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-815-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Voice, David (2007). Hospital Tramways and Railways (3rd ed.). Brora: Adam Gordon. ISBN 978-1-874422-67-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Webb, David R. (September 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 110 no. 761. London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923.
• White, Stephen (1984). Solway Steam: The Story of the Silloth and Port Carlisle Railways, 1854-1964. Carlisle: Carel Press Limited. ISBN 978-0-9509096-1-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• The station on a navigable Edwardian OS map National Library of Scotland]
• The station on the branch, with mileages Railway Codes
• The line with period photographs Holme St Cuthbert History Group
• The line and station Cumbrian Railways Association
• The station Rail Map Online
• The station and institution from the air Britain from the Air (free login needed to zoom)
• The home and station Rail UK

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Black Dyke Halt Line and station closed		North British Railway Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway		Terminus