Cumbrian Railways Association Photo Library
The Cumbrian Railways Association Photo Library

The CRA is the railway history group for Cumbria and surrounding areas.
This website is intended to display some of the riches of the the Association's
photographic collections for the benefit of members and non-members.

Prints are available direct from the Association or from fotopic , though
the latter is best used only for prints sized up to 6x4 inches as the uploaded
files will not provide quality prints for larger sizes

If you are interested in images for possible publication,either in print or on the web,
please use the "Leave a message" box on the lower right of the index page.

The Cumbrian Railways Association provides a wide range of benefits for its members,
including meetings, field visits, 4x yearly journals and newsletters, and other services.
For more information about the Association please visit our main website at
www.cumbrianrailwaysassociation.org.uk

Top Photo

Calva Junction lkg N, 1952
(588 hits)
Cleator & Workington Junction Railway
Most Recent Photo

Cockermouth
Gallery Stats
Photo Hits (today):6
Photo Hits (this week):212
Photo Hits (this month):212
Photo Hits (this year):36551
All-Time Hits:47182
Collections:21
Top Photographs This Year
DEN098.jpg   Calva Junction lkg N, 1952  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (588)
094a02_D417_cl_40_Keswick-Eus_Threlkeld_6807.jpg     Diesels on the CK&P  (427)
DEN097.jpg   Workington Central, old locoshed and signal box, 1952  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (426)
KER314.jpg   Lowca Colliery, original workmen's station on opening day of service to Workington  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (404)
KER189.jpg   Cloffocks Jct, lkg N, c.1920 ?  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (397)
DEN099.jpg   Distington Joint station lkg E, 1952  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (395)
DEN096.jpg   Workington Central station, 1952  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (393)
PA0581.jpg   Cleator Moor Jct., c.1910  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (356)
PA0499.jpg   Calva Jct. lkg S, c.1935  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (326)
10 SHI282.jpg   C&WJ hopper wagon, one of a batch of 15 built by Charles Roberts & Co of Wakefield in 1914  Cleator & Workington Junction Railway  (306)
Most Recent Collections
Cumbria's railways and gasworks
Gasworks are a frequent background subject in many photos of the CRA collections. Here is a selection of these long-disappeared features, in images where some appear as more than just a background incidental. Most photos believed to date from the 1930s
Settle & Carlisle - around Garsdale
A small selection of photos taken on the Settle-Carlisle line at and around Garsdale
Windermere branch in the 1960s
A selection of shots of the branch in the 60s with both steam and diesel at work
Scenes from around Nationalisation
To mark the 60th anniversary of the nationalisation of railways in Great Britain a commemorative article has been published in the Spring edition of Cumbrian Railways, the journal of the Cumbrian Railways Association. The feature concentrates on the changing scene in Cumbria as our railways changed from mainly LMS to British Railways.

The article includes a number of appropriate photographs from the CRA's collection; a greater number for which prints may be supplied are listed in the March edition of Lakes Express, the CRA's newsletter. All those listed there may now be viewed here in this collection.

All images are from the Association's recently acquired Pearsall Collection, from the cameras of brothers Alan and Ian. This period was relatively early in the development of their photography and this is sometimes reflected in the technical quality of the images. However, the selection attempts to present some of the variety of the railway scene in and around Cumbria during the late 1940s.

Prints are available via fotopic, though image sizes will not permit reasonable prints larger than 6 by 4 inches. They are also available direct from the CRA for this and for larger sizes. Member should look up terms in their members' handbook for details.
Diesels on the CK&P
Diesel trains commenced running on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith line from early in 1955, providing most local services from that date. It was not until the last few years of the line's existence that main line diesels were seen, then only a couple of time a year hauling the annual special through train between Euston and Keswick at each end of the main week of the Keswick Convention
Photos for the modelling: Sandside
Sandside station was located on the single track line which linked the Lancaster & Carlisle line at Hincaster with the Furness line at Arnside. It had a chequered career but was at its busiest during the two World Wars, it forming a key part of the route for supplies of coke from the South Durham coalfield to the ieon furnaces of the Furness area of Lancashire. As well as a local passenger service between Grange-over-Sands and Kendal, the line also saw visitations of excursions to the Lake District from various points round the North of England, sometime hauled by locomotives as large as the LMS 6XP Jubilee 4-6-0s.

For the modeller the location has the further attraction of fronting on almost directly to the estuary of the River Kent, separated only by a road, with the land rising sharply behind the railway, with the limestone hillside pierced by a rail-served quarry. The quarry was owned by James Ward (later Northern Quarries Co., Ltd. from 1898, and New Northern Quarries Co., Ltd. from the 1920s), who under the tradename of "Quarrite" supplied tarred macadam for road surfacing over much of northern England.
Lowca Engineering Works
From 1799 to the 1920s the engineering works just North of Parton on the West Cumbrian Coast provided equipment for local industry, including small industrial locomotives, colliery equipment, bridge girders, etc. The works operated under the various names of Tulk & Ley (from 1799), Fletcher, Jennings & Co., (From 1857), Lowca Engineering Co. (from 1885) and New Lowca Engineering Co. (from1905 to 1926).

These images are copies made by Richard Pattinson from a works catalogue, probably dating from around 1900.
Pattinson Collection - Mystery pictures 1
Despite applying our wide knowledge of Cumbria and its railways, there are always some images which cannot be identified. From time to time some of these have have been published in "Cumbrian Railways" and sometimes positive identifications have been made.

Here is a collection of 36 photos taken by Richard Pattinson, mainly during the 1930s, for you to get your teeth into to try and identify the location. Most of these are believed to be on the former Furness Railway, with a small number towards the end on the route of the one-time Maryport & Carlisle Railway.

Members of the crchat email group should feed comments back via that group. Non-members are invited to use the comment facility on this website
Cockermouth Keswick & Penrith Railway in the 1930s
Richard Pattinson had a special interest in the CK&P. His father, John William, had been a director of the Company from 1903 and chairman for the last few months of the Company in 1922. He was also the main proprietor of Pattinson's Flour Mill at Whitehaven, later taken over by Quaker Oats. Most of these images are from the camera of Richard in the mid-1930s
Cleator & Workington Junction Railway
A selection of photos from the CRA collections taken on the Cleator & Workington Junction line, mainly in the 1930s
More Signals on the Furness Railway
A good selection of photographs from the camera of Richard Pattinson and dating from the 1930s.
Furness Railway - Coniston Branch
A variety of views of the Coniston branch taken shortly after its final closure in 1962
Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway - photos from the Dendy Collection
W Dendy worked as a railway officer in West Cumberland in the early 1950s. He obviously had a strong interest in local railway history and the then extensive remains of earlier eras, some of which he recorded on film
Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway - 1920s and 30s
Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s by Richard L Pattinson
Signalling on the Maryport & Carlisle Railway
Photos taken during the 1930s by Richard L Pattinson.
Signals on the Furness Railway
A selection of photographs of the signalling on the lines of the former Furness as recorded in the 1930s by the camera of Richard Pattinson and in the 1950s from the camera of Bill Shillcock
Signal boxes of the Maryport & Carlisle Railway
The M&C was the first public railway in West Cumberland, being completed in short stages between 1840 and 1845. At its peak it was to fulfil the vital role of being the key link between the massive iron and steel industry of West Cumberland with the national rail system. With the final closure of the Workington rail mill in 2006 this function has now disappeared, partly replaced by the link the line now provides for the nuclear industry at Sellafield. No original M&C signal boxes remain in 2007
Signal boxes of West Cumberland - The Joint Lines
The "Joint Lines" were formerly those of the Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont Railway which was tranferred to the joint ownership and management of the London & North Western and Furness Railways in 1878. Signal boxes since that date were generally supplied by the L&NWR, but some earlier boxes remained
Signal boxes of West Cumberland - Cleator & Workington Junction Railway
The Cleator & Workington Junction Railway was a late-comer to the railway scene of West CUmberland, being opened during the early 1880s. Locally owned and managed, its raison d'etre largely disappeared at the Grouping of 1923. Much of the system hung on into the 1960s, but all has now totally disappeared
Signal boxes of West Cumberland - the London & North Western Railway
The LNWR in West Cumberland comprised the lines of the former Whitehaven Junction Railway and the Cockermouth and Workington Railway, both of which were taken over in 1866
[ More collections ]
Welcome
Please enjoy this small, but we hope growing, selection from the extensive photographic collections of the Cumbrian Railways Association.

The collections of the Association cover mainly the railways of Cumbria and North Lancashire in their wonderful variety - from the great Anglo-Scottish trunks routes over Shap and Ais Gill to the local and industrial line which served the communities of West Cumbria and Furness.

The Cumbrian Railways Association was founded in 1976 as the County's railway history group - it now has around 400 members in the UK and round the world. If you would like to know more about the CRA, our activities and services to members, please visit our website at www.cumbrianrailwaysassociation.org.uk

Please take time also to visit the parallel Oversands Photo Gallery where you can see many other images of railways of Cumbria from the collections of our President, Peter Robinson - click on the link in the below.

The Cumbrian Railways Association is registered charity No. 1025436
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