"Little" North Western Railway - Electrification

Electrification

The line between Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham pioneered the use of overhead cables for electrification. Heysham-to-Morecambe was electrified on 13 April 1908, extending to Lancaster Green Ayre on 1 July and to Lancaster Castle on 14 September. The system used 6.6 kV at 25 Hz, from a power station at Heysham, supplied via cables suspended from overhead steel archways.

After 11 February 1951, steam trains temporarily took over while the system was upgraded to 6.6 kV at 50 Hz. Full electric service resumed on 17 August 1953. Power was supplied from a new substation at Green Ayre. On a 4,000-foot section of track, the overhead arches were replaced by experimental cantilever structures, separate for each of the two tracks.