Brampton railway station (Cumbria)

Brampton railway station is on the Newcastle to Carlisle railway in northern England, serving the town of Brampton. The station is located about a mile southeast of the town, near the hamlet of Milton. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern. It is commonly suffixed as Brampton (Cumbria) in order to distinguish it from the station of the same name in Suffolk.

Brampton
Location
Place	Brampton
Local authority	City of Carlisle
Coordinates	54.9322°N 2.7039°W / 54.9322; -2.7039
Grid reference	NY550599
Operations
Station code	BMP
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	19,174
2015/16	18,860
2016/17	17,708
2017/18	18,540
2018/19	17,032
History
Original company	Newcastle & Carlisle Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
20 July 1836 (1836-07-20)	opened as Milton
1 September 1870	renamed Brampton
1885	renamed Brampton Junction
1 November 1891	renamed Brampton
1 August 1913	renamed Brampton Junction
18 March 1971	renamed Brampton (Cumberland)
14 May 1984	renamed Brampton (Cumbria)
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Brampton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Northern Trains Route 4: Tyne Valley Line
West Coast Main Line to Edinburgh & Glasgow Glasgow South Western Line to Glasgow Carlisle Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness & West Coast Main Line to London Euston Settle to Carlisle Line Wetheral Brampton Haltwhistle Bardon Mill Haydon Bridge Hexham Corbridge Riding Mill Stocksfield Prudhoe Wylam Blaydon MetroCentre Dunston East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross Newcastle East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Durham Coast Line to Middlesbrough

History

The station was probably opened on 20 July 1836 when the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway opened between Carlisle and Greenhead, it was called Milton or possibly Milton for Brampton.[1][2]

The station was renamed several times according to Quick (2019) as follows:[3]

• Brampton on 1 September 1870.
• Brampton Junction in 1885.
• Brampton on 1 November 1891.
• Brampton Junction on 1 August 1913.
• Brampton (Cumberland) in March 1971 (but by 1976 was shown in timetables as just Brampton).
• Brampton (Cumbria) by 14 May 1984.

The station was a junction station from opening in 1836 as a short branch line of the Brampton Railway, known locally as 'The Dandy', which was initially horsedrawn, ran into Brampton itself, terminating at Brampton Town railway station.[4][5] This short branch was taken over by the North Eastern Railway (NER) in 1912, the track relaid and locomotive operated services resumed from August 1913, with a break from 1917 to 1920, until October 1923 when the line was closed, most of the route is now a public footpath.[5][6]

The station was also the junction of another railway serving the local collieries owned by the Earl of Carlisle. Known as Lord Carlisle's Railway, this ran to a junction with the Alston Branch Line at Lambley, this mineral railway closed in March 1953.[7]

The first Station Master was Thomas Edmondson who introduced cardboard tickets and later developed the ticket dating machine.[8]

The station was host to a camping coach from 1935 to 1939.[9]

Staff were removed from the station in 1967, with the main buildings demolished in stages during the 1970s and 1980s.

Facilities

No ticketing provision is available here (though Northern is planning to install a ticket machine in the near future), so passengers must buy them on the train or prior to travel. There are waiting shelters on each platform and train running information is offered by timetable poster boards and telephone (there is a public payphone on platform 2). Step-free access is available to both platforms (which are also linked by footbridge), though the westbound platform requires a significant detour via public roads to reach from the main entrance.[10]

Services

The station in 1962

On Monday to Saturday day-times there is a two-hourly service in each direction with more trains during peak periods (ten each way in total). On Sundays there are six trains to Carlisle & five to Newcastle.[11]

References

1. Quick 2019, pp. 87 & 452.
2. "Opening of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway". Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser. 26 July 1836. p. 3. Retrieved 2 June 2020. – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (subscription required)
3. Quick 2019, pp. 87, 452 & 494.
4. Quick 2019, p. 87.
5. Hoole 1986, p. 202.
6. Backtrack May 2017, p. 285.
7. Hoole 1986, pp. 201-202.
8. Farr 1997, p. 141.
9. McRae 1997, p. 10.
10. Brampton (Cumbria) station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 26 January 2017
11. Table 48 National Rail timetable, December 2019

Bibliography

• Farr, Michael G.D. (1997). "Edmondson, Thomas". In Simmons, Jack; Biddle, Gordon (eds.). The Oxford Companion to British Railway History From 1603 to the 1990s (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 141. ISBN 0-19-211697-5.
• Hoole, K. (1986). The North East. A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. 4 (3rd ed.). Newton Abbott: David St John Thomas. ISBN 0946537313.
• McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
• Quick, Michael (2019) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). Railway and Canal Historical Society.

External links

• Train times and station information for Brampton railway station (Cumbria) from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Haltwhistle		Northern Tyne Valley Line		Wetheral
	Historical railways
Naworth		Newcastle and Carlisle Railway North Eastern Railway		How Mill
	Disused railways
Brampton Town		Brampton Town Branch Earl of Carlisle's Waggonway		Terminus