Windermere railway station - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Windermere railway station is the railway station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

that serves Windermere

Windermere (town)

Windermere is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England. It has a population of 8,245. It lies about half a mile away from the lake, Windermere...

in Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is just south of the A591

A591 road

The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. The stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswick has been voted Britain's Favourite Road.-Route:...

, about 15 min walk or a short bus ride from the lake

Windermere (lake)

Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. It is a ribbon lake formed in a glacial trough after the retreat of ice at the start of the current interglacial. It has been one of the country’s most popular places for holidays and summer homes since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere...

. The station is located behind a branch of the Booths

Booths

Booths is a chain of supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are located in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. Booths is targeted at the middle class market and competes on quality as opposed to just...

supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

chain, which occupies the site of the original station building, in front of the Lakeland store. It is the terminus of the former Kendal and Windermere Railway

Kendal and Windermere Railway

The Kendal and Windermere Railway is a railway in Cumbria in north-west England. It was built as a railway from the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway at Oxenholme via Kendal to near Windermere, opening fully in April 1847. The engineer was Joseph Locke and the partnership of contractors consisted of...

single-track Windermere Branch Line

Windermere Branch Line

The Lakes Line is the railway line from Oxenholme to Kendal and Windermere, originally part of the Kendal and Windermere Railway.Passenger services are operated by TransPennine Express using modern Class 185 diesel multiple units....

, with a single platform (much longer than the trains usually seen here today) serving one terminal track.

The railway cottages, built for railway executives in 1849, were designed by the famous architect Augustus Pugin

Augustus Pugin

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work in the Gothic Revival style, particularly churches and the Palace of Westminster. Pugin was the father of E. W...

. One of the fireplaces is a copy of one of his in the Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

. A typical example is Old Codgers Cottage

Old Codgers Cottage

Old Codgers Cottage was built in 1847 by Augustus Pugin who was responsible for building the Palace of Westminster. He was commissioned by the Kendal and Windermere Railway company to build the properties for their staff when the new Windermere railway station was being built...

, currently used as a holiday home. The owners have researched its history to find that it was inhabited by the head Drayman for the railway company at the time of the 1861 census.

The selection of the town of Birthwaite as the location of the station serving the lake was what led to it taking the name Windermere, even though it is not on the water (nowadays it has essentially grown together with Bowness-on-Windermere

Bowness-on-Windermere

Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. Due its position on the banks of Windermere the town has become a tourist honeypot. Although their mutual growth has caused them to become one large settlement, the town is distinct from the town of Windermere as the two still...

, which touches the lake).

Layout

The station was at one time bigger than this, with four platforms and an overall roof. Three tracks were taken out of use when the branch was reduced to a one-train operated single line in 1973 as an economy measure. The single track was cut back to a new truncated station

Truncated railway station termini

A truncated railway station terminus is when an original station site is sold for redevelopment and a new, usually smaller station is constructed back down the line. Whilst there are many examples of station buildings and other structures, such as the redundant platforms at Whitby being sold for...

in 1986 following the demolition of the trainshed and the building of a supermarket, which incorporates the facade and canopy of the original station. The Booths supermarket has also been designed to mimic the appearance of the original trainshed.

Current Services

First TransPennine Express

First TransPennine Express is a British train operating company. It is a joint operation between First Group and Keolis . It operates regular passenger services in northern England, including services linking the west and east coasts across the Pennines...

run Class 185

British Rail Class 185

The Class 185 Pennine Desiro is a diesel multiple-unit passenger train of the Desiro type built by Siemens in Germany for the British train operating company First TransPennine Express.51 units were acquired, representing an investment of £250 million....

diesel multiple units along the line, which runs through Staveley

Staveley, Cumbria

Staveley is a village in the District of South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is situated northwest of Kendal where the River Kent is joined by its tributary the Gowan.-Geography:...

, Burneside

Burneside

Burneside is a small village in South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is located to the north of Kendal and to the south east of Staveley, on the River Kent, just upstream from the confluence of the River Sprint...

, and Kendal

Kendal

Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...

, and then interchanges with Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...

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...

services at Oxenholme Lake District

Oxenholme Lake District railway station

Oxenholme The Lake District railway station is a railway station in Oxenholme, near Kendal in Cumbria, England. The station is situated on the West Coast Main Line and is also the start of the Windermere Branch Line to Windermere. The station serves as a main line connection point for Kendal, and...

. A couple of services per day then run to Manchester Airport, while a few continue beyond Oxenholme but only as far as Lancaster or Preston.

The station is also a hub for Stagecoach

Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...

bus services connecting Windermere with Coniston

Coniston, Cumbria

Coniston is a village and civil parish in the Furness region of Cumbria, England. It is located in the southern part of the Lake District National Park, between Coniston Water, the third longest lake in the Lake District, and Coniston Old Man; about north east of Barrow-in-Furness.-Geography and...

, Grasmere

Grasmere

Grasmere is a village, and popular tourist destination, in the centre of the English Lake District. It takes its name from the adjacent lake, and is associated with the Lake Poets...

, Keswick

Keswick, Cumbria

Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...

, and other destinations in Cumbria

Cumbria

. Both Stagecoach and the local council also run regular buses through the town to Bowness

Bowness-on-Windermere

Pier; Stagecoach buses are open-top double-decker

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...

buses running along principal streets. The local council's minibuses run around the outskirts of town.

Future Services

The nature of the Oxenholme to Windermere line would make it difficult to run additional services on the line. However, Network Rail are looking at the possibility of an infill electrification project to allow direct electric services to operate between Manchester and Windermere after electrification of the Deansgate-Bolton-Leyland line.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Layout

Current Services

Future Services

See also

External links