Carlisle, in North West England, formed the focus for a number of railway routes because of the geography of Cumbria. At first each railway company had its own passenger and goods station, but in 1847 passenger terminal facilities were concentrated at Citadel station, which is in use today. Goods facilities remained dispersed, and goods wagons passing through were remarshalled, incurring delay and expense.
Congestion at the station increased over the years until in 1877 by-pass lines for goods traffic were provided, although the dispersed terminal facilities largely remained. The passenger station itself, although imposing, remained confined and inadequate.
Carlisle Kingmoor Marshalling Yard opened in 1963, but wagonload traffic was already near the end of its commercial life, and the costly yard facilities were soon reduced as demand declined.
Today Carlisle is an important point on the West Coast Main Line railway, and a junction for radiating secondary routes. Passenger traffic is buoyant, and long-distance freight trains pass through.
Carlisle Canal
The city of Carlisle is in Cumbria in north-west England, at a strategic transport location at the crossing of the River Eden (of which it was the lowest bridging point).David Joy, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 14: The Lake Counties, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1983, The Eden flows westward into the Solway Firth, a wide body of water that forms a natural barrier. Transport by shipping could not be brought to Carlisle due to shoaling in the Solway and Eden. Hilly ground surrounds Carlisle on the landward sides, and land transport routes must either follow river valleys, or cross very high ground. The Tyne Gap eased transport across the country to and from the east coast.W A C Smith and Paul Anderson, Carlisle's Railways, Irwell Press, Wellingborough, and 1 871608 73 2 (both ISBNs are printed in the book)
Its location led to Carlisle becoming an important point on transport routes, and as industry developed, the need for cheaper transport of raw materials into Carlisle was a constant theme. In August 1818 £30,000 was subscribed for shares in a Carlisle Canal, connecting a basin in Carlisle to Fisher's Cross, on the channel of the River Eden and accessible to the Solway Firth. The Carlisle Canal obtained its authorising act of Parliament, the Carlisle Canal Act 1819 (59 Geo. 3. c. xiii) on 6 April 1819,Joseph Priestley, Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, London, 1831 and it was completed and opened on 12 March 1823.R W Rennison (editor), Civil Engineering Heritage, Northern England, Thomas Telford Publishing, London, 1981 reprinted 1996, Scott & Benson's Hand Book of Carlisle and Vicinity, published by Scott & Benson, Carlisle, 1844Sydney Towill, A History of Carlisle, Phillimore, Chichester, 1991,
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
The land route between Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle had long been used for the transport of goods, and there was considerable trade on the east–west route. However, the road was inconvenient and the transit was slow, and a canal connecting Newcastle and Carlisle was proposed. The engineer William Chapman had earlier surveyed a route for such a canal, and he was brought back in 1824 to update his plans; this time he found that while a canal would be practicable, a railway would be cheaper. Chapman's recommendation was subject to considerable controversy over the details of the route and the possible use of steam traction, and it was not until 22 May 1829 that the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was authorised by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle Railway Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. lxxii) with capital of £300,000. The early priority for construction was at the eastern parts of the line, but at the western end the line from Greenhead to the Carlisle station at London Road was opened on 19 July 1836. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway adopted right-hand running on double track sections.
The original intention had been to connect directly to the Carlisle Canal, but this was delayed, and the connection to the canal became a "branch"; the first traffic was grain, which passed on the branch on 25 February 1837, and it was fully opened on 9 March 1837.Bill Fawcett, A History of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, 1824 to 1870, North Eastern Railway Association, 2008, G Whittle, The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1979,
Maryport and Carlisle Railway
Maryport had been a significant port further west on the Cumberland coast, and was also in an important area of coal extraction. Following local interest, the Maryport and Carlisle Railway was incorporated on 12 July 1837. It was constructed from the Maryport end at first; then a section at the Carlisle end was opened on 10 May 1843. For the time being there was a gap at the centre of the route, only closed when the line was completed in early 1845.
The Carlisle section of the line formed a junction with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway at Bog Junction, or Bogfield. (Contemporary reports are inconsistent in nomenclature.)The Bog Junction was not the later junction of the same name, which was located elsewhere.Herbert and Mary Jackson, The Maryport and Carlisle Railway, Hirst-Jackson Publishers, Maryport, 1979
The Maryport and Carlisle passenger station was at Water Lane,Alan Jowett, Jowett's Railway Centres, volume 1, Patrick Stephens Limited, Sparkford, 1993, G O Holt, The Fall of Carlisle (Crown Street) — 1849, Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society, volume 2, number 4, July 1956 close to the present day St Nicholas Street. It was described by the Carlisle Journal as "nearly on the site of the ancient hospital of Saint Nicholas". The M&CR and the Port Carlisle extension of the N&CR ran alongside one another at this point, and they joined a little to the east; some M&CR trains continued to the N&CR London Road station.Carlisle Journal, 6 May 1843, accessible at the British Newspaper Archive, subscription required All M&CR goods traffic was handled at the London Road station.
The London Road terminus faced eastwards, so that use of it by M&CR trains involved a backshunt. The cramped Water Lane station was only a temporary measure, and the M&CR had acquired land at Crown Street for their intended permanent terminus. Unfortunately the parliamentary bill for that was rejected on a technicality in the 1843 session. When it was resubmitted in 1844, it was considered together with the bill for the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway; both bills were passed (on 6 June 1844) as the Maryport and Carlisle Railway Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. xxxvi) and the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. xxxvi). and serious difficulties later arose. The L&CR and the M&CR schemes both required facilities for a terminus, and for some time it proved impossible to negotiate a mutually acceptable arrangement.
Linking England and Scotland By 1840 it was obvious that the disconnected local railways in Great Britain must eventually link to form a network; this was already taking shape in England, and much thought was given to connecting the cities of central Scotland with the growing English network. The topography of the intervening land was challenging, with high ground of the Cumbrian Mountains and the Southern Uplands forming natural barriers. The locomotives of the day were not considered capable of hauling trains on a trunk railway over the steep gradients thought to be unavoidable, and many creative schemes were put forward to route round the hilly country. Not all of these schemes were well designed, but the best connected important population centres at the expense of considerable extra mileage. In addition, any route running close to the North Sea coast would have to make the difficult crossings of the River Tyne and the River Tweed.
Carlisle was an obvious routing point for some Anglo-Scottish routes, but Newcastle was strongly advanced by promoters of an east-coast route. For some time it was assumed that only a single Anglo-Scottish route was commercially supportable, and a government-appointed commission was established to select the best route, but its findings failed to quell the enthusiasm of investors, and in the end its report was ignored.C. J. A. Robertson, The Origins of the Scottish Railway System: 1722–1844, John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh, first edition 1983,
Two factions were able to build Anglo-Scottish routes at this period: although multiple companies were involved in each, the necessary co-operation formed natural alliances, and these became known as the East Coast Route (through Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed) and the West Coast Route (through Carlisle).A J Mullay, Rails Across the Border, Patrick Stephens Publishing, Wellingborough, 1990, David Joy, Main Line Over Shap, Dalesman Publishing Company Limited, Clapham, Third edition reprint 1979, Henry Grote Lewin, The Railway Mania and its Aftermath, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968, reprinted 1968,
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
The West Coast Route was gradually taking shape, from the origins of the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway (from Birmingham to Manchester and Liverpool). The northward push was supported by the North Union Railway and the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway.
The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was incorporated on 6 June 1844, and it opened its line as far as Carlisle on 17 December 1846, from which date a continuous line between London and Carlisle was available. The issue of the L&CR station at Carlisle was not yet settled, so the first L&CR trains used the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway's London Road station, reached by a sharp south-to-east curve that had been authorised on 21 June 1845, and which (as for the M&CR trains) required a backshunt to enter the station. The train service was not intensive so for the time being this was not a great operating difficulty. However, this was far from convenient for the future Anglo-Scottish trunk route that was clearly forming, and the question of the station at Carlisle was to create a serious difficulty.
Caledonian Railway
The rivalry to operate the principal route from Central Scotland to the English railway network had resulted in two winners. The North British Railway opened from Edinburgh to Berwick on 1 July 1847, linking there with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. The East Coast Route was the first to be able to advertise a through route between Edinburgh and London, although rail bridges over the Tweed and the Tyne were not yet ready, and for some time the journey involved a foot (or omnibus) crossing of the rivers.
The Caledonian Railway had delayed a year in seeking authorisation, only obtaining the Caledonian Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxii) on 31 July 1845. It was to form a Y-shape, connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh with Carlisle, and at the 122 miles in extent, was one of the largest railway projects authorised up to this date. In fact the southern end of its system was the first to open, between Carlisle and Beattock, on 10 September 1847.The directors had a private trial run the previous day. The line northwards to Glasgow was not ready until 15 February 1848, and to Edinburgh on 1 April 1848. However, before the first opening the question of the Carlisle station had to be settled.David Ross, The Caledonian—Scotland's Imperial Railway—A History, Stenlake Publishing Ltd, Catrine, 2013, John Thomas revised J S Paterson, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 6, Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1984,
Citadel station