Armathwaite railway station


Armathwaite railway station is a railway station which serves the village of Armathwaite in Cumbria, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services. It is now, since the closure of Cotehill, Cumwhinton and Scotby stations, the final stop on the Settle-Carlisle Line before the terminus at Carlisle. It was opened in May 1876, closed in May 1970 when local passenger trains ceased on the route and reopened by British Rail in July 1986. By then, the original station building on the Carlisle-bound platform had been sold for private use so a passenger shelter was built at the northern end of that platform. A brick-built passenger waiting room exists on the Leeds-bound platform.

History

The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders. The original station building, now a private house, is a medium sized style station built from local red sandstone.
The station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. It then passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. Sectorisation was introduced by British Rail in the 1980s, and when the station was reopened, it was served by Regional Railways until the Privatisation of British Rail.
The line through the station is often used as a diversionary route for the West Coast Main Line.

Facilities

The platforms can be reached from the nearby road or car park, but there is no step-free access to either one. Timetable information posters and a telephone link are available to give train running information, but there are no ticket-buying facilities at the station. Northern is planning to install PIS displays and a ticket machine here in the coming years as part of a wider programme of station improvements across its network.

Services

Eight northbound and seven southbound trains serve the station Mondays to Saturdays, with six trains each way calling on Sundays.
Services to Carlisle were suspended from 9 February 2016 due to a landslip just north of the station at Eden Brows, which destabilised the embankment on the eastern side of the railway where it passes through the Eden Gorge. An emergency timetable was in operation, with trains from Leeds terminating/starting here and a rail replacement bus link taking passengers forward to Carlisle. This continued until the end of March 2017, when the £23 million project to repair the embankment and reinstate the track bed was completed by Network Rail. Whilst the repairs were in progress, only the northbound platform and line was in use - the southbound platform and line reopened for passenger service as scheduled on 31 March 2017.

Armathwaite signal box

The Armathwaite signal box was built by the Midland Railway and placed in service on 16 July 1899. It was equipped with a 16-lever tumbler frame. The box was decommissioned on 15 January 1983. During 1992 it was restored by the Friends of the Settle to Carlisle Line and furnished with original Midland Railway block instruments and painted in original colours. It can be visited on Sundays by prior arrangement.