Windermere railway station

Windermere railway station is the railway station that serves Windermere in Cumbria, England. It is just south of the A591, about 25 min walk or a short bus ride from the lake. The station is located behind a branch of the Booths supermarket chain, which occupies the site of the original station building, in front of the Lakeland store. It is the terminus of the former Kendal and Windermere Railway[1] single-track Windermere Branch Line, with a single platform (much longer than the trains usually seen there today) serving one terminal track.

Windermere
End of the line at Windermere Railway Station.
Location
Place	Windermere
Local authority	South Lakeland
Grid reference	SD413986
Operations
Station code	WDM
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.418 million
2015/16	0.420 million
2016/17	0.415 million
2017/18	0.422 million
2018/19	0.374 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1847 (1847)
Original company	Kendal and Windermere Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway London Midland Region of British Railways
20 April 1847	Opened
1973	Reduced to single track
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Windermere from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern Trains who provide all passenger train services.

The Terrace, a row of cottages, built for railway executives in 1849, are said to have been designed by the architect Augustus Pugin. One of the fireplaces is a copy of one of his in the Palace of Westminster.[2]

The selection of the town of Birthwaite as the location of the station serving the lake was what led to it taking the name Windermere, even though it is not on the water (nowadays it has essentially grown together with Bowness-on-Windermere, which touches the lake).

Layout

Windermere station in 1951

The station was at one time bigger than at present, with four platforms and an overall roof.[3] Three tracks were taken out of use when the branch was reduced to a one-train operated single line in 1973 as an economy measure. The single track was cut back to a new truncated station in 1986 following the demolition of the trainshed and the building of a supermarket, which incorporates the facade and canopy of the original station. The Booths supermarket has also been designed to mimic the appearance of the original trainshed.

Facilities

The station has a staffed ticket office that is open throughout the week (06:00- 20:45 Weekdays and Saturdays, 10:30 to 20:45 Sundays); a self-service ticket machine is also provided for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. A post box, toilets and a waiting room are available, along with cycle hire facilities and a pay phone. Running information is offered via digital CIS displays and timetable posters. Level access is available from the ticket office and station entrance to the platform.[4] Responsibility for operating the line passed from First TransPennine Express to Northern in April 2016.[5]

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.

Northern run a mixture of Class 156 and Class 195 diesel multiple units at a frequency of one per hour in each direction along the line, which runs through Staveley, Burneside, and Kendal, and then interchanges with Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express services at Oxenholme Lake District. A couple of services per day then run to Manchester Airport, while a few continue beyond Oxenholme but only as far as Lancaster or Preston.[6] There is also a service to Blackpool North every weeknight and a daily service from Barrow-in-Furness.

Bus services

The station is also a hub for Stagecoach bus services connecting Windermere with Coniston, Grasmere, Keswick, Kendal and other destinations in Cumbria. Stagecoach also run regular buses through the town to the lake at Bowness-on-Windermere on the 599 route; these buses are open-top double-decker buses and run every 20 minutes in the summer.[7] The 597 minibus service links the station with the housing estates and health centre three mornings a week.[8]

References

1. "Opening of the Kendal and Windermere Railway". Westmorland Gazette. England. 24 April 1847. Retrieved 10 April 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. "A W N Pugin in Cumbria". Visit Cumbria. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
3. Vaughn, p.115
4. Windermere station facilities National Rail Enquiries
5. Northern Rail Franchise Improvements - DfT Retrieved 16 December 2015
6. GB eNRT 2017 Edition, Table 83 (Network Rail)
7. Lakes Connection Service 599 Summer 2016
8. Windermere Town Service 597

• Vaughn, J.A.M (1980), Modern Branch Line Album, Ian Allan Publishing Ltd (Shepperton, Surrey). ISBN 0-7110-1030-7

External links

• Train times and station information for Windermere railway station from National Rail
• Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire
• Buses from the station
• Buses to the station

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Terminus		Northern Trains Windermere Branch Line		Staveley
Terminus		Northern Connect Windermere - Manchester Airport		Staveley (limited service)
				Kendal