The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was incorporated by Act of Parliament

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 on 1 August 1861, for a line connecting the town of Cockermouth

Cockermouth

-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....

 with the London and North Western Railway

London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 (LNWR) West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

 at Penrith

Penrith, Cumbria

Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....

. Arrangements for the use of the stations at either end (Cockermouth was already served by the Cockermouth and Workington Railway

Cockermouth and Workington Railway

The Cockermouth & Workington Railway was a railway between the towns of Workington and Cockermouth established by Act of Parliament in 1845. A single-tracked line of eight and a half miles length, it was built primarily to carry coals from the pits of West Cumberland to the port at Workington for...

 (C&WR) were included. Traffic was worked by the LNWR and (originally) by the Stockton and Darlington Railway

Stockton and Darlington Railway

The Stockton and Darlington Railway , which opened in 1825, was the world's first publicly subscribed passenger railway. It was 26 miles long, and was built in north-eastern England between Witton Park and Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington, and connected to several collieries near Shildon...

 (later the North Eastern Railway

North Eastern Railway (UK)

The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...

), both of whom had shares in the company. The line was 31½ miles (50 km) in length, and had eight intermediate stations.

Railway stations

From west to east:

• Cockermouth
  Cockermouth railway station
  Cockermouth railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway and served the town of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 18 April 1966. The station was the second to be built in the town...
  
  : the second station in Cockermouth, after Cockermouth and Workington Railway station
  Cockermouth (C&W) railway station
  The original Cockermouth railway station was situated on the Cockermouth & Workington Railway and served the town of Cockermouth, Cumbria. The station opened on 28 April 1847, and closed on 2 January 1865. The station was replaced by the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway station when the...
  
  ; there was some animosity between these two railways at the time.
• Embleton
  Embleton railway station
  Embleton railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the village of Embleton. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 15 September 1958...
  
  
• Bassenthwaite Lake
  Bassenthwaite Lake railway station
  Bassenthwaite Lake railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the village of Dubwath. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 18 April 1966...
  
  : the line skirted the lake for a considerable distance
• Braithwaite
  Braithwaite railway station
  Braithwaite railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the village of Braithwaite. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 18 April 1966. The station building...
  
  
• Keswick
  Keswick railway station
  Keswick railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the town of Keswick. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 6 March 1972. The station building still exists...
  
  
• Threlkeld
  Threlkeld railway station
  Threlkeld railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the village of Threlkeld. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 6 March 1972.-References:...
  
  
• Troutbeck
  Troutbeck railway station
  Troutbeck railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the hamlet of Troutbeck. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 6 March 1972.-References:...
  
  
• Penruddock
  Penruddock railway station
  Penruddock railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the village of Penruddock. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 6 March 1972.-External links:...
  
  
• Blencow
  Blencow railway station
  Blencow railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway between Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumbria, England. The station served the villages of Blencow and Newbiggin. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 3 March 1952...
  
  
• Penrith
  Penrith railway station
  Penrith railway station is located on the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom. It serves the town of Penrith, Cumbria and is less than one mile from its centre...
  
  

History

The line opened on 2 January 1865: trains from Penrith began to work through to Whitehaven

Whitehaven

Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...

 along the CK&PR/C&WR route from 1 July 1865, when the C&WR station was closed: that railway was absorbed by the LNWR in 1866. Although the LNWR provided the passenger services, the CK&PR continued to operate as a separate company until the 1923 Grouping

Railways Act 1921

The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...

, when it was absorbed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway

London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

.

Keswick Museum and Art Gallery

Keswick Museum and Art Gallery

The Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Cumbria was founded in 1873 and had a number of temporary homes as it grew, including the Moot Hall in Keswick town centre....

 have many items on display which are connected to the railway, including the barrow and spade used to cut the first sod of earth for the railway from 21 May 1862; genuine train tickets from the 19th century; a platform guard's whistle

Whistle

A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

.

There is a proposal to reopen the line as a modern railway and a feasibility study has been commissioned by CKP Railways plc to examine the business case. However, Eden District Council appears to be against the reopening plan and are allowing development at Flusco Business Park to straddle the trackbed. A proposal to demolish the Mosedale Viaduct was cancelled by the British Rail Property Board in 1997 because of the plan to reinstate the line.

The project to reopen the railway has been dealt some serious blows, including numerous trackbed breaches, lack of funding and the NWRDA saying the case was not strong enough compared to other much more urgent projects.

External links

• The Cockermouth, Keswick, and Penrith Railway, Cumbria