Beckermet Mines railway station

Beckermet Mines railway station was situated at Pit No.1 of the mine of the same name. It was used by workmen's trains which travelled along a branch which curved eastwards off the Moor Row to Sellafield line, primarily to handle the iron ore lifted at the site.[3][4]

Beckermet Mines
General information
LocationWest of Haile, Cumbria, Copeland
England
Coordinates54.4642°N 3.5060°W / 54.4642; -3.5060
Grid referenceNY024086
PlatformsUnknown
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLNWR & FR Joint Railway
Key dates
15 January 1912opened for workmen's services
after 1923Closed[1][2]

The mine was opened in 1903 in open country west of the hamlet of Haile, Cumbria, England. The site's surroundings remained rural in 2013.

History and location

The line off which the branch was built was one of the fruits of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the nineteenth century. Tracks were laid southwards from Whitehaven and Moor Row as far as Egremont by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857. By the 1860s the company sought to extend southwards from Egremont to meet the coastal line at Sellafield, aiming for Millom, Barrow-in-Furness and beyond. The Furness opposed this, but the two companies came to an accommodation and built the Egremont to Sellafield extension as a joint line.

When winnable ore was found north east of Beckermet some years later the railway was well placed to serve it, with a workmen's service being a natural consequence in the days long before mass car ownership and road public transport. Beckermet Mine and its workmen's halt were Twentieth Century additions to the line.[5] Services began in 1912 with three trains each way daily from Moor Row, calling at Woodend, Egremont and St Thomas Cross Platform.[6]

The station was very likely to have been an unstaffed halt, no platform is identified as such on contemporary OS maps. The mine's products continued to be taken away by rail until the 1970s.

Rundown and closure

An online source[7] gives the mine's closure date as 1973, whilst three books give it as 1980.[8][9][10] Both sides could be right, as Florence, Ullcoats and Beckermet mines were joined underground in their later years. The mine's product was the last traffic on any of the lines built by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway. The "main line" off which the branch was built closed when Beckermet Mine closed, all the way back to Corkickle. It lay unused until 1993, when it was lifted.[10]

The exact date the workmen's service ended is not yet confirmed.

Afterlife

By 2013 the site of the mine was occupied by the Beckermet Industrial Estate with road access only.

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
St Thomas Cross Platform
Line and station closed		   LNWR & FR Joint Railway   Terminus

See also

References
  1. Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 45.
  2. Butt 1995, p. 30.
  3. Jowett 1989, Map 36.
  4. Robinson 1985, p. 70.
  5. Suggitt 2008, p. 55.
  6. Robinson 1989, p. 39.
  7. Beckermet Mine via mindat
  8. Suggitt 2008, p. 56.
  9. Marshall 1981, p. 163.
  10. Quayle 2007, p. 89.

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  • Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
  • 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. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
  • Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8003-1.
  • Quayle, Howard (2007). Whitehaven: The Railways and Waggonways of a Unique Cumberland Port. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-5-6.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, North Yorkshire: Dalesman Books. ISBN 978-0-85206-815-1.
  • Robinson, Peter W. (February 1989). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Workmen's Trains to Beckermet Mines". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 4 (3). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria. Lost Railway. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.

Further reading
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