Carlisle railway station

Close to the English border with Scotland, Carlisle became an important railway interchange in the first half of the 19th century.[3] In 1836, Carlisle's first station opened at London Road for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway; seven years later, Crown Street opened for the Maryport & Carlisle Railway. In the mid-1840s, work commenced on Carlisle Citadel on the south side of Court Square. Citadel station was built for the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway and the Caledonian Railways.[3]

Carlisle station was designed by the architect William Tite. His design incorporated Tudor and Gothic styles. Built at a cost of £53,000, the station was constructed between 1846 and 1848. On 10 September 1847, it was officially opened to rail traffic, even though construction was incomplete and only one long through platform with a bay at each end had been finished.[3]

The main station buildings have a multi-bay sandstone facade of two storeys, capped by rows of slate roofs at differing levels. The entrance portico is supported by five pointed arches with buttresses between. Roundels are placed over three arches; the central roundel bears the royal arms of Queen Victoria, flanked by those of the Lancaster & Carlisle and the Caledonian Railways but the outer plaques, intended for the Maryport & Carlisle and the Newcastle and Carlisle who did not contribute towards the cost of the station's construction, are blank.[3]

As a consequence of the station accommodating the complex timetables operated by two, and eventually seven operating companies, a joint management committee was established.[3] On 10 May 1857, the Carlisle Citadel Station Agreement was drawn up and established under the Carlisle Citadel Station Act of 22 July 1861. The committee had eight directors, four each from the boards of the Caledonian and the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) which had absorbed the Lancaster & Carlisle in 1859.[3]

To improve freight services the Carlisle Goods Traffic Committee was formed after the Carlisle Citadel Station Act of 1873.[3] The London & North Western, Midland, Caledonian and Glasgow & South Western each had two directors on the committee. To minimise the danger to passengers, a goods avoidance line was constructed to divert freight trains around the station.[3]

A 1912 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing railways in the vicinity of Carlisle (shown here as CITADEL STATION)

The Carlisle Citadel Station Act authorised changes, not restricted to freight, including an instruction "enlarging and improving facilities". Expansion work took place between 1873 and 1876 followed by a second phase between 1878 and 1881. While construction was taking place, the opening of the Midland Railway's Settle–Carlisle line generated more freight trains from August 1875, and passenger services, started in April 1876.[3]

On 20 July 1881 improvements were officially completed. Carlisle station was used by seven railway companies, the London and North Western, North Eastern, Midland, Caledonian, North British, Glasgow & South Western and Maryport & Carlisle. Each companies operated its own passenger amenities with separate booking and parcels offices.[3][4]

Additional tracks, buildings and platforms were constructed including an island platform with two-storey buildings which increased the 400 metre-long through platforms to three.[3] Five terminal bay platforms were constructed and an overarching footbridge which connected the through platforms inside the train shed. Below the platforms, the undercroft contains a network of passageways, offices, service rooms and staff accommodation; parts of the underground areas are reputed to be haunted.[3]

During the construction programme an iron and glass large roof was installed behind the station buildings.[3] As built, it spanned 85 metres across the platforms and tracks to cover an area in excess of 2.6 hectares. It consisted of 26 deep lattice girders, with a transverse span and 12.2 metre centres; each girder had 10 panels, stiffened end posts and a flat bottom tie.[3] The girders supported a series of slender balanced cantilever half-truss hooped beams at approximately 3.7m centres, spanning the tracks. The ornate timber end screens had Gothic-style glazing bars. The roof was glazed using shingled panels, possibly making use of Rendel's patented Indestructible System, and was designed by Edinburgh-based engineering firm Blyth & Cunningham.[3][4]

The Up 'Caledonian' leaving Carlisle in 1960

During 1922, five of the seven companies that operated at the station were absorbed into the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) after the Railways Act 1921. During the Second World War, black paint was applied to the roof glazing as a precautionary measure against enemy air raids.

Preventative maintenance gradually led to large areas of the glass roof becoming unsafe and forcing occasional platform closures after falling glass.[3] In 1957 it was decided to reduce the area of the roof and concentrate maintenance activities on the remaining area.[4] Between 1957 and 1958, the south-western half of the station roof, and portions of its north-eastern half and the end screens were removed.[3] The original glass panes were replaced by large patent glazing panels.[4] The substantial supporting wall at the south-western side of the station was left in place.[3] The wall is built of sandstone and linked to the main buildings by a series of arched tunnels in the undercroft.[4]

In November 1972, the station received Grade II* listed status; its citation notes: "The building by Tite is among the most important early major railway stations in Britain". In April 1994, the freestanding retaining wall was also listed separately as Grade II.[3]

Refurbishment of the train shed roof in 2016

Between October 2010 and March 2011, a series of improvements were performed at Carlisle Station, focused upon its passenger amenities, such as the waiting, meeting and seating areas. From 13 July 2013 to 7 April 2014, as part of a £1.5 million refurbishment project, accessibility at the station was improved via the refurbishment of the lifts and other alterations to achieve step-free access to all of the platforms. In conjunction, a formerly-disused subway was also renovated.[3]

According to rail industry publication Rail Engineer, it was clear by 2014 that the station's roof was in need of restoration.[4] The steel trusses were found to have been sagging in places, which was speculated to have been a result not only of the structure's age but also come as a consequence of the alterations performed during the 1950s, having been exacerbated by the adoption of rigid glazing and insufficient drainage systems. Multiple panels have cracked or broken, resulting in the deployment of several nets to catch falling glass, while rain water often pooled in areas of the roof rather than draining away.[4] Furthermore, maintenance activities were complicated by a lack of access to the roof on the part of safety restrictions, preventing even routine cleaning, thus the panels were perpetually dirty and provided poor natural lighting conditions throughout the platforms.[4]

During November 2015, work commenced upon the repair and refurbishment of the station's roof, as well as the rebuilding of all eight platforms under a £14.7 million scheme that was managed and carried out by national rail infrastructure management company Network Rail.[5] This programme was planned by global design consulting firm Arcadis in close cooperation with both Historic England and Carlisle City Council; while the renovated roof was designed to incorporate modern elements and contemporary construction techniques, significant attention was reportedly paid to maintaining its historical aesthetic. The new roof is primarily composed of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (EFTE) sheeting and aluminium frames, which is claimed to possess a high level of resistance to corrosion as well as retaining considerable strength and being far lighter than conventional glass panes; other benefits include the roof being shatter-proof and self-cleaning.[4] Construction company Galliford Try served as the principal contractor performing the roof replacement, while Vector Foiltec manufactured and fitted the EFTE sheets. It was also decided to repaint the metalwork of the roof, which was not originally included in the programme's scope.[4][6]

During February 2018, a second phase of this renovation programme, which was focused upon the platforms themselves, was scheduled to commence.[4] Work to resurface and install tactile paving on platforms 1, 2, and 3 was completed in March 2022.[7]

For most of the day Avanti West Coast operate:[15][16]

Southbound:

• 1tph to London Euston (direct route via the Trent Valley line)
• 1tph to London Euston via Birmingham New Street. This through service was a major change from the start of the 2013–14 timetable when the hourly London Euston-Birmingham-Wolverhampton service was combined with the hourly Birmingham to Glasgow/Edinburgh service.

Northbound:

• 1tph to Glasgow Central direct from Euston
• 1tp2h to Edinburgh
• 5tpd to Glasgow Central from the West Midlands

Provide an hourly service Manchester Airport to Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central (alternating). As of December 2019, services also operate between Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street.

Provide the following service: Monday to Saturdays, There is an hourly service to Dumfries with 2-hourly service to Glasgow Central via Kilmarnock. Sundays: There are 5 trains per day to Dumfries with 2 of these trains going to Glasgow Central.

Northern Trains Route 4
Tyne Valley Line
Carlisle Wetheral Brampton Haltwhistle Bardon Mill Haydon Bridge Hexham Corbridge Riding Mill Stocksfield Prudhoe Wylam Blaydon MetroCentre Dunston Newcastle
Most services extend to/from Morpeth or Nunthorpe.

Northern Trains Route 6
Cumbrian Coast, Furness and Windermere Lines
Carlisle Dalston Wigton Aspatria Maryport Flimby Workington Harrington Parton Whitehaven Corkickle St Bees Nethertown Braystones Sellafield Seascale Drigg Ravenglass for Eskdale Bootle Silecroft Millom Green Road Foxfield Kirkby-in-Furness Askam Barrow-in-Furness Roose Dalton Ulverston Cark & Cartmel Kents Bank Grange-over-Sands Arnside Silverdale Carnforth Windermere Staveley Burneside Kendal Oxenholme Lake District Lancaster Preston Wigan North Western Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Piccadilly Mauldeth Road Burnage East Didsbury Gatley Heald Green Manchester Airport
Bootle, Braystones, Drigg, Flimby, Green Road, Kirkby-in-Furness, Nethertown, Parton and Silecroft are request stops.

Northern Trains Route 7
Bentham Line and Settle and Carlisle Line
Carlisle Armathwaite Lazonby & Kirkoswald Langwathby Appleby Kirkby Stephen Garsdale Dent Ribblehead Horton-in-Ribblesdale Settle Heysham Port Morecambe Bare Lane Lancaster Carnforth Wennington Bentham Clapham Giggleswick Long Preston Hellifield Gargrave Skipton Keighley Bingley Shipley Leeds

Northern provide the following service:

• One train per hour to Barrow-in-Furness (some afternoon & evening trains terminate at Whitehaven).[17]
• Two trains per hour to Newcastle via Hexham (one per hour on Sundays), with extensions to Morpeth or Middlesbrough.
• Eight trains per day to Leeds via Settle.[18]
• Four trains per day to Lancaster via Whitehaven and Barrow-in-Furness.

Since May 2018, there are now five trains to Leeds on Sundays (including one through to Nottingham) plus a single DalesRail service to Blackpool North via Preston. A Sunday service along the Cumbrian Coast line to Barrow also began at the summer 2018 timetable change (the first since 1976) - eight trains now run to Barrow, plus a further five to Whitehaven only.

Services running through Carlisle from Dumfries to Newcastle were stopped at the May 2022 timetable change.[19]

London North Eastern Railway services call at Carlisle on a couple of weekends a year when the East Coast Main Line is closed for engineering work. They operate mainly hourly service to London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley.

All Caledonian Sleeper services pass through Carlisle once a night except Saturdays (and engineering diversions) on their journey between London Euston and several Scottish destinations. Passengers may only board the London-bound service from Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley, or only alight services in the opposite direction. Services from/to London Euston to/from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William run as a separate train that runs through Carlisle without a scheduled stop.

Alongside regular passenger trains on select weekends and occasionally during mid-week, excursion trains regularly visit Carlisle as the destination for railtour passengers. The most popular excursion trains are those worked by steam locomotives. The starting points of the trips vary with some travelling from the southern end of the West Coast Main Line at London Euston and from other starting points such as Tyseley, Birmingham, Crewe, York and Liverpool. The routes vary too as there are four main routes that railtours can travel down heading to Carlisle or making their return journeys: West Coast Mainline (over Shap or Beattock); Cumbrian Coast and Furness line; Tyne Valley line; and Settle and Carlisle line.

The steam locomotives in question vary too as they can be either locomotives which ran through Carlisle in the days of steam, including: Black 5s, Jubilees, Royal Scots, Princess Royals and Coronation/Duchesses. Some are even of classes which never visited Carlisle in steam days, including: Castles, Kings, Halls, Merchant Navys and Light Pacifics. Steam locomotives that are known to have visited Carlisle over the years include: 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, 6201 Princess Elizabeth, 6233 Duchess of Sutherland, 35018 British India Line, 45596 Bahamas, 45690 Leander, 45699 Galatea, 46115 Scots Guardsman, 60103 Flying Scotsman, 60163 Tornado and 61306 Mayflower.

The Cumbrian Mountain Express trains are regular excursions that visit Carlisle. The routes vary from travelling northbound over Shap Summit on the WCML and returning south down the Settle & Carlisle line or vice versa. These now run throughout the year.

All services towards Glasgow and Edinburgh over the WCML were suspended due to flood-related damage to the River Clyde bridge at Lamington (caused by Storm Frank). A limited number of trains to and from Glasgow were being diverted via Dumfries, whilst most others were replaced by express coaches. Repair work was initially expected to take at least four weeks to complete and services were not expected to restart over the structure until March 2016.[20] Following better than expected weather conditions and delivery of key components earlier than planned, the work was completed ahead of schedule and trains resumed on 22 February 2016.[21] This followed on from previous disruption caused by Storm Desmond on 5–6 December 2015 - flooding just north of the station at the bridge over the River Caldew led to a temporary suspension of services to and from Scotland and subsequent major delays to trains for more than two weeks.

Services towards Newcastle and Leeds were also disrupted at the same time due to weather-related landslips near Corbridge and Armathwaite respectively. A replacement bus service ran between Hexham and Prudhoe whilst repairs were carried out on the Tyne Valley line.[22] The line reopened to traffic on 8 February 2016. Services on the Settle line still ran initially, but as only one line was available between Cotehill and Culgaith and capacity was therefore restricted, an emergency timetable was in operation with extended journey times and some trains being replaced by buses.[23] Further ground movement at the landslip site at Eden Brows led to the suspension of all services as far south as Appleby on 9 February 2016, as Network Rail engineers deemed that it was no longer safe to operate trains over the affected portion of line. The line remained closed for over a year whilst the damaged embankment was underpinned and stabilised, and the track and formation repaired.[24] Network Rail started work on the £23 million project to repair the embankment and formation in July 2016.[25] The line reopened on 31 March 2017, with the first train departing on schedule at 05:50 and a special excursion train hauled by the preserved steam locomotive Flying Scotsman visiting the station later in the day.[26]