Whitehaven Railway Station - History

History

The first station at Whitehaven was opened on 19 March 1847 by the Whitehaven Junction Railway (WJR) as the terminus of their line from Maryport. This station lay to the south of the present station, with the main entrance on Bransty Row (at grid reference NX974186).

On the southern side of the town, the first section of the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway (W&FJR) opened on 1 June 1849 from a terminus at Whitehaven (Preston Street) to Ravenglass, but there was no connection between this line and the WJR suitable for passenger trains. In between the two stations stood the town centre, and to the east of that Hospital Hill, so a tunnel 1,333 yards (1,219 m) long was built beneath the latter, being completed in July 1852. In 1854, the W&FJR passenger trains began using the WJR station at Whitehaven (Preston Street becoming a goods-only station). In 1865, the W&FJR was absorbed by the Furness Railway (FR), and in 1866, the WJR was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR).

The LNWR station (formerly WJR) was replaced on 20 December 1874 by a new one named Whitehaven Bransty; it was jointly owned by the LNWR and the FR. This station had its name simplified to Whitehaven on 6 May 1968.

The station formerly had four operational platforms, but today only two remain in use (the former platforms three and four having lost their tracks in the mid eighties). The double line from Parton becomes single opposite the station signal box (which still bears the original station name Whitehaven Bransty) and then splits into two - one runs into platform one (a bay used by most terminating services from Carlisle) and other runs into platform two, which is the through line to Sellafield and beyond. Trains heading south must collect a token for the single line section to St Bees from a machine on the platform (with permission from the signaller) before they can proceed. Conversely trains from Barrow must surrender the token upon arrival, the driver returning it to the machine before departing for Workington. Only then can the signaller allow another train to enter the single line section.

The line then passes through the 1219m long Bransty Tunnel to pass beneath the town on its way south. The route onwards from here was opened in 1850 by the Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway, which later became part of the Furness Railway.