Nethertown railway station

Nethertown Railway Station is a request stop on the Cumbrian Coast Line 39 miles (63 km) north west of Barrow-in-Furness. It is located on the coast, and serves the nearby village of Nethertown in Cumbria, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services. In 2018/19 it was the least used station in Cumbria and the fifth least used in the North West.[1]

Nethertown
Location
Place	Nethertown
Local authority	Copeland
Grid reference	NX985079
Operations
Station code	NRT
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	600
2015/16	560
2016/17	412
2017/18	536
2018/19	516
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Nethertown from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The Cumbria coast line just north of Nethertown station, which is just to left of the house

History

The station was opened on 19 July 1849 by the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway when it opened the line between Whitehaven and Ravenglass.[2]

In 1914 at the start of World War I the passing loop was expanded to cater for the increased length of trains and to help with the extended length of trains brought about by World War I. In May 1916 the shunting neck was extended and an additional 90 yards of sidings were provided.

The station was host to six LMS caravans from 1937 to 1939.[3]

The station was a passing loop until the 1970s when it was singled due to fall-off in traffic and train frequency. It was particularly busy with passenger traffic in the 1940-50s when it served the Nethertown military camp for training anti-aircraft gunners, which was taken over after the war for the construction workers building the Sellafield Nuclear plant.

As of August 2019, the only facility is a passenger shelter on the single platform, but up until the early 1970s, the station had more substantial buildings as well the aforementioned signal box.[4]

Location

The station is directly on the coast in a spectacular and remote position overlooking the Irish sea from a small cliff. Pearson's 1992 railway guide is moved to comment, "The tiny halts at Braystones and Nethertown are as remote as anything British Rail has to offer....Nethertown station seems suspended between the cliff face and the sands".[5] There is a vehicle track from the public highway and a footpath shortcut to the village.

On the seaward side can be seen the remains of the sea-filled swimming pool built by the contractors from the camp. A foot level crossing connects the platform to the station approach track, and though this offers step-free access, the platform is low. A ramp has been installed to allow easier access on and off the train and the steps which were previously mounted on the platform have been removed.[6] Timetable posters are available to offer train running information and there are electric lights during operating hours.

Services

Northern Trains Route 6: Cumbrian Coast & Windermere Lines
Carlisle Dalston Wigton Aspatria Maryport Flimby Workington Harrington Parton Whitehaven Corkickle St. Bees Nethertown Braystones Sellafield Seascale Drigg Ravenglass for Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Bootle Silecroft Millom Green Road Foxfield Kirkby-in-Furness Askam Barrow-in-Furness Roose Dalton Ulverston Cark and Cartmel Windermere Kents Bank Staveley Grange-over-Sands Burneside Arnside Kendal Silverdale Oxenholme Lake District Carnforth Lancaster Preston Wigan North Western Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Airport
Bootle, Braystones, Drigg, Flimby, Green Road, Kirkby-in-Furness, Nethertown, Parton and Silecroft are request stops.

As of the 30 June 2019 timetable, five trains call northbound and six trains call southbound (on request) from Monday to Friday, with one additional departure each way on Saturdays. The timetable states that some Saturday services do not treat the station as a request stop. There is no late evening service, but a limited Sunday service was introduced at the May 2018 timetable change;[7] the first to run over this section since 1976. Currently the Sunday service consists of 4 trains in each direction.

References

1. "Office of Rail and Road statistics".
2. Quick, Michael (2019) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). Railway and Canal Historical Society.
3. McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. p. 22. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
4. Nethertown in 1970 Flickr
5. Pearson's Railway Rides, The Cumbrian Coast. J M Pearson & Son, Staffs, 1992.
6. Nethertown station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 2 December 2016
7. Table 100 National Rail timetable, May 2019

External links

• Train times and station information for Nethertown railway station from National Rail
• 100 Years of St Bees, Douglas Sim, 1995. ISBN 0-9526990-0-1

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
St Bees		Northern Cumbrian Coast Line		Braystones