Silloth was the terminus of the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway, a branch railway from Carlisle, England.[13] The town, dock and station at Silloth were built on a greenfield site after the Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Act (1855) was passed.[14] The railway provision grew with the dock and its later additions.[15]
The station was opened in 1856 and closed by the Beeching axe on 7 September 1964, when it had been estimated in 1962 that the line was losing £23,500 a year and rising, staff costs had been pared to the bone and an imminent track bill of £32,500 was to be faced.[16]
Services
Sample timetables along the branch show typical routine patterns.[17] Unfortunately they are undated:
the first does not show Abbey Junction, suggesting it is after 1 September 1921, nor does it mention the North British, so it may be 1923–1932, when the branch to Port Carlisle closed
The Winter 1962–3 timetable[19] shows eight trains each way, Monday to Saturday, with a Saturday extra, as well as three trains on Sundays. The table strikes the eye as being simpler than earlier timetables with:
A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (right) railways in the vicinity of Silloth
The line was one of the first in the country to be dieselised, with one train a day remaining steam-hauled.
The branch was atypical in that from the 1880s successive owners had fostered a vigorous trade in "Specials", the cornerstone of which was Carlisle to Silloth and back for a shilling. This was backed by encouraging outings to Silloth by a wide range of customers such as Sunday schools, Temperance clubs and racegoers.[20] Many specials were both long and well-filled;[21] the longest ever was not a trippers' train, but a celebration train for the reopening of Carr's flour mill in 1905.[5]
Freight traffic, which had done well in wartime,[22] notably because it was on the north west coast, was following the pattern of the rest of the country - in decline. Four camping coaches were positioned here by the London Midland Region from 1956 to 1964.[23] There was insufficient shunting to justify keeping the small locoshed open after 6 July 1953[24][25] and erstwhile staple business such as flour traffic from Carr's Mill fell from £7000 to £100 per month, the business being lost to road competition.[26]
All tracks to and in Silloth had been removed by 1968.[27]
Redevelopment
The Allerdale council in northern England passed its final approval on a plan to demolish the remaining structure of the station on 8 December 2006. The development firm James Morgan Ltd. was awarded a contract to build new single-family housing on the property. Stuart Hinchliffe, director of the development firm also stated "We will be reinstating as much of the old railway platform as we can, to maintain Silloth’s Victorian history."[28]
Anderson, David (November 2004). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "The Port Carlisle and Silloth Branch Lines". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet Publications (183). ISSN0269-0020.
Barbey, M.F. (February 1955). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "From Carlisle to Silloth". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 101 (646). ISSN0033-8923.
Barker, Oswald J. (August 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "Branch line to Silloth". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (9). ISSN1360-2098.
Earnshaw, Alan (July 1990a). Jenkinson, David (ed.). "The Silloth Branch - Part 1". Back Track. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. 4 (4). ISSN0955-5382.
Earnshaw, Alan (September 1990b). Jenkinson, David (ed.). "The Silloth Branch - Part 2". Back Track. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. 4 (5). ISSN0955-5382.
Gammell, C. J. (May 1994). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "Just a few lines... Cumbria". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet Publications (57). ISSN0269-0020.
Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (2000). The Directory of British Engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 2 North Midlands, Northern England and Scotland. OPC Railprint. ISBN978-0-86093-548-3. OCLC59558605.
Hammond, John M. (August 2015). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "The Beeching Plan and the Closure of the Carlisle-Silloth Branch". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 11 (11). ISSN1466-6812.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC22311137.
McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN1-870119-48-7.
Marsh, John; Garbutt, John (1999). Cumbrian Railways. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-0-7509-2043-8.
Puxley, Chris (2009). The Port of Silloth 1858 - 2009: A Pictorial History Through 150 Years of a Solway Port. Portishead, Somerset: Bernard McCall. ISBN978-1-902953-42-7.
Thomlinson, G. (May 1983). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Rails on the Solway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (14). ISSN1466-6812.
Edgar, Stuart; Sinton, John H. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway. Catrine: The Oakwood Press. ISBN978-0-85361-395-4. LP176.
Morrison, Gavin (1993). Vintage Railtours: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, a Pictorial Record 1954-69. Peterborough: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN978-1-85-794007-7.
Walton, John K. (1979). "Railways and Resort Development in Victorian England: The Case of Silloth". Northern History. Leeds: University of Leeds, School of History. 15 (1): 191–209. doi:10.1179/nhi.1979.15.1.191. ISSN0078-172X.
Webb, David R. (September 1964). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (761). ISSN0033-8923.
White, Stephen (1984). Solway Steam: The Story of the Silloth and Port Carlisle Railways, 1854-1964. Carlisle: Carel Press Limited. ISBN978-0-9509096-1-5.
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