Rail Centres: Carlisle

[dunks]

Been a while since I last posted here, so hi everyone!

Carlisle has always intriuged me as a rail centre and even today is still the source for a variety of routes:

Newcastle via Hexham
Settle & Carlisle
Cumbrian Coast via Whitehaven
Glasgow via Dumfries
Glasgow via Motherwell
Edinburgh via Carstairs
London via Preston

Of course in its heyday it was even bigger than this and you could get trains to Edinburgh (Via the 'Waverley' route), the Langholme branch and the Silloth Branch. Then take into account its role as a freight centre - the once massive Kingmoor Marshalling Yards and Upperby MPD for stabling loco, stock & DMUs. In the early years there were also sheds at Canal Shed and the Midland sheds at Durranhill. There was also Carlisle Currock (Maryport & Carlisle & G&SW) & London Road (NER)

One mystery I can't solve is the precise location of Port Carlisle Branch Junction (the one for the Waverley & Silloth branches) it must surely have been somewhere beyond the bridge north of the station, but before Kingmoor MPD.

I've fond memories of riding the Newcastle train to Hexham, MK1 coaches over the S&C (and at one time, a failed 108 pulled by a class 31!) and of course Derby 108's over to Whitehaven. I'm sure Glasgow via Kilmarnock was loco & coaches at one stage, later replaced by 156 dmus.

What are your memories of Carlisle and what routes have you been on?

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by dunks

......................One mystery I can't solve is the precise location of Port Carlisle Branch Junction (the one for the Waverley & Silloth branches) it must surely have been somewhere beyond the bridge north of the station, but before Kingmoor MPD....................

Hi Dunks,
The Quail Track Diagrams Book gives the location of Port Carlisle Branch Jn. as the point where the 4 track section starts at the north end of the Caldew Viaduct (0 miles, 72 chains from Carlisle station)

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by dunks

Been a while since I last posted here, so hi everyone!

What are your memories of Carlisle and what routes have you been on?

Used to travel from Penrith to Carlisle on steam and diesel in the early 60's.
We couldnt get a seat in those days either !

Joined the Carlisle-Keswick DMU at Penrith a couple of times to go to Keswick.

www.ckpr-heritage.org.uk

[43006]

It's a bit late saying this, but I'll add my fourpennoth anyway.
As a trainspotter in West Cumberland (as it was then) in the mid and late 1960's, Carlisle was my nearest major railway centre. Kingmoor (when it was on the EAST side of the line) was a helluva place to visit, as there was always a fair variety of stuff there, such as Brittanias, Crosti-boilered 9Fs, 8Fs, Black 5s, the very occasional Clan or WD, Ivatt 4MTs (of which I'm one - think about it!) and the usual dose of Brush 4s, BR Type 2s and, on one occasion, an ex-GWR AC Railcar! Upperby was eaqually interesting, with more 'workman-like' locos, like Stanier & Fairburn 4MT Tanks, Ivatt 2MTs and 4MTs, Standard Class 5s (73XXX and 75XXX, particularly the latter) and Black 5s. There were several types of ex-LMS loco that I never saw at Carlisle, such as Royal Scots and Jubilees. Long distant stuff through Carlisle was a mixture of Brush 4s and EE Type 4s, with a rare 'Peak' on the 'Thames-Clyde' express. I don't know what class they became, but I saw a fair few D400s, (Class 50???) which later moved en masse to the Western Region. When steam went, a load of Clayton Type 1s were drafted into the area.
The ONLY train I travelled on in/out of Carlisle at that time was on the line to Whitehaven then to Seascale, where I was living at the time. They were always Derby Lightweight Units (e.g. M79006 + M79606). The stuff I saw on the Cumbrian line was menial and repetative - but that's another story!

[86217Comet]

Carlisle was always one of my favourite rail centres. Being brought up in Edinburgh I loved taking the train to Carstairs (usually cl47 hauled) then connecting with an electric hauled portion from Glasgow Central, then south approaching Carlisle past the massive Kingmoor yard/depot. Kingmoor was always a great place to see cl40s aswell as electrics. The only drawback with Carlisle station was the avoiding line used by freight trains which narrowed down the variety of locos to be seen at the station. ( I forgot to mention that the period I have described is the early-mid 80s). I'm not old enough to remember it in the non-electrified era and I'm fascinated by the variety of motive power at that time, especially the cl40s and cl50s.

[LNER]

Hi
The below link gives all the information on Port Carlisle Junction Station as well as many others.
Thanks


http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p...on/index.shtml

[52G]

I think we always remember first times best of all. I went across there on a number of occasions in the late 50s. Never previously trainspotted further than Newcastle as I recall. My first recollection is lunch at the top of the driveway down to Kingmoor shed and seeing a couple of southbounds hauled by 45655 and 46220 (probably on the Royal Scot). Out of the plethora of locos on 12A only my first ever Britannia, Firth of Tay, rings a bell today. Similarly at 12C it was Flamingo at the back of the shed under repair that is my only recollection, and at 12B it was 45501 St Dunstans.

I think I only ever travelled out of Carlisle to anywhere other than Newcastle on 1 occasion. We had a Freedom of Scotland ticket and we had a mid-afternoon choice of Dornoch Firth via the GSWR, or City of Sheffield via the Caley to get us to Glasgow. We opted for the latter.

Station announcements were very frequent and there were 3 destinations which I recall vividly. No, not Glasgow Central, Crewe, or London Euston, but rather Oxenholme, Aspatria, and Carstairs. I don't think I'd ever heard of these places before visiting the Citadel.

[ianrail]

In 1970/71 I used to occasionally spend a few hours very late at night on Carlisle station. I'd studied the LMR timetable to see what time the Glasgow - London sleepers would pass through and was always interested in them as they were so different to the daytime trains. If I remember correctly, I guessed that some which were shown as non-stop in the public timetable would make crew change stops somewhere during the night and indeed they sometimes did at Carlisle. They were usually hauled by a "50". Usefully, there was a train from Carlisle to Newcastle in the middle of the night leaving at about 02.30 so when the station staff came and asked me what I was doing spending so long on the platform - which they did frequently - I was truthfully able to show them that I was waiting to catch the next Newcastle train.

[Christopher Dent]

Once in 1955 on a visit to Tyneside from York we extended our visit to Carlisle by train bunking the three Carlisle sheds in the middle of the night.I was after 60093 Coronach which we saw at Canal. It seems a crazy thing to do now but there is no excitement.
60501

[Bubblewrap]

Originally Posted by Christopher Dent

Once in 1955 on a visit to Tyneside from York we extended our visit to Carlisle by train bunking the three Carlisle sheds in the middle of the night.I was after 60093 Coronach which we saw at Canal. It seems a crazy thing to do now but there is no excitement.
60501

What about Durranhill?
http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.p...e%20Durranhill