Copperas Hill railway station

Copperas Hill
Location
Place	Copperas Hill, near Harrington, Cumbria
Area	Copeland
Coordinates	54°36′15″N 3°34′08″W / 54.6042°N 3.5688°WCoordinates: 54°36′15″N 3°34′08″W / 54.6042°N 3.5688°W
Grid reference	NX987243
Operations
Original company	Lowca Light Railway
Post-grouping	Lowca Light Railway
Platforms	1[1]
History
15 April 1912	Workmen's service commenced
2 June 1913	Public passenger service[2]
September 1921	Last appeared in Bradshaw
1 April 1929	Workmen's service ended[3]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Lowca Light Railway and Gilgarran Branch
Legend
Key Open line Gilgarran Branch Lowca Light Railway Other lines ---------- ----------- Cumbrian Coast Line                      to Maryport Flimby MCR to Dearham Siddick Junction Linefoot Linefoot Jct St Helens Colliery Great Broughton Dock Jct Seaton Dock Calva Jct Derwent Jct             Cloffocks Jct To Marron Junction Workington Main Workington Central Solway Colliery Derwent Ironworks Moss Bay Cart Siding Moss Bay Ironworks Harrington Jct High Harrington  Harrington  (Church Rd Halt) Harrington Harrington Harbour  Rosehill  (Archer St Halt) Rose Hill Platform Rose Hill Junction Copperas Hill Micklam To Marron Junction Lowca Bain's Siding Wythemoor Colliery USC Workmen's Halt Distington Parton Halt Ullock Jct Parton Distington Ironworks Cumbrian Coast Line                 to Whitehaven Ullock WCER to Rowrah Oatlands CWJR to Rowrah CWJR to Cleator Moor West ---------- -----------
1972 Key Open line Gilgarran Branch Lowca Light Railway Closed and lifted lines ---------- ----------- Cumbrian Coast Line                      to Maryport Flimby Formerly to Dearham Siddick Junction Linefoot Jct St Helens Colliery Armaments Depot Calva Jct Derwent Jct             Cloffocks Jct Formerly to Marron Junction Workington Main Workington Central Solway Colliery Moss Bay Ironworks Harrington Jct High Harrington  Harrington  (Church Rd Halt) Harrington Harrington Harbour  Rosehill  (Archer St Halt) Rose Hill Platform Rose Hill Junction Copperas Hill Micklam Formerly to Marron Junction Lowca Bain's Siding USC Workmen's Halt Distington Parton Halt Ullock Jct Parton Cumbrian Coast Line                 to Whitehaven Ullock WCER to Rowrah Oatlands CWJR to Rowrah CWJR to Cleator Moor West

Copperas Hill railway station served the small clifftop community of Copperas Hill, south of Harrington in the former county of Cumberland, England, which is now part of Cumbria.

A public passenger service called at the station between 2 June 1913 and September 1921, though unadvertised workmen's trains had started in April 1912 and continued until April 1929, after which all forms of passenger service ceased.

By 1922 the service had settled down to three trains each way between Lowca and Workington Central, though, surprisingly in that age, trains had stopped calling at Copperas Hill in September 1921. There never was a public Sunday service.^[4]

The station was on the Harrington and Lowca Light Railway which connected with the Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (CWJR) at Rosehill Junction a short distance north of Copperas Hill and south of Harrington Village. Workmen's services to and from Copperas Hill variously ran from Moss Bay Cart Siding, Maryport (during the First World War), Workington Central and Seaton (Cumbria). Public passenger trains ran to these last two only.

Freight services

The railway through Copperas Hill was first and foremost a mineral railway, with the short-lived workmen's and passenger services an afterthought. A waggonway had reached a chemical works at the station site in the first half of the Nineteenth Century, connecting Harrington harbour with John Pit and Hodgson Pit. Later developments, eventually ran northwards towards Workington and northeastwards to meet the Gilgarran Branch at Bain's Siding. The driving forces were coal at Lowca, fireclay and bricks (primarily aimed at lining furnaces at Workington's steelworks), coke and coking bi-products. Centrepiece for over fifty years was Harrington No. 10 Colliery which, confusingly, was not in Harrington, but in Lowca.

Between them these industrial concerns sustained the railway through Copperas Hill until final closure to all traffic in May 1973.

Although closed in 1921 the station was still in good shape in 1969.^[5]

A British record

Copperas Hill station was short-lived, but the track immediately north of the station has its place in the railway record books. Its southbound uphill gradient of 1 in 17 was the steepest adhesion-worked British incline carrying a regular, timetabled passenger service.^[6][7][8]

Afterlife

The track through the station site was lifted by the end of 1973. The trackbed now forms part of the Cumbrian Way.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Rose Hill Platform Line and station closed		Lowca Light Railway		Micklam Line and station closed

See also

• Gilgarran Branch
• Cleator and Workington Junction Railway

References

1. Copperas Hill station, via Harrington History
2. 1913 Public Timetable, via Cumbrian Railways Association
3. Andrews 2001, pp. 20-23.
4. Bradshaw 1985, p. 595.
5. Anderson 2001, p. 402.
6. McGowan Gradon 2004, P. 30, Note 2.
7. Robinson 1985, p. 66.
8. Robinson 2002, p. 27.

Sources

• Andrews, Dr Michael (May 2001). Peascod, Michael, ed. "The Harrington and Lowca Light Railway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 7 (2). ISSN 1466-6812.
• Bradshaw (1986) [1922]. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint). Guild Publishing London.
• McGowan Gradon, W. (2004) [1952]. The Track of the Ironmasters: A History of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway. Grange-over-Sands: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 0-9540232-2-6.
• Robinson, Peter W. (1985). Railways of Cumbria. Clapham, via Lancaster: Dalesman Books. ISBN 0 85206 815 8.
• Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1 84033 205 0.

Further reading

• Anderson, Paul (June 2001). Hawkins, Chris, ed. "The dog's got your description". British Railways Illustrated. Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. 10 (9).
• Anderson, Paul (April 2002). Hawkins, Chris, ed. "Dog in the Manger? The Track of the Ironmasters". British Railways Illustrated. Clophill: Irwell Press Ltd. 11 (7).
• Bairstow, Martin (1995). Railways In The Lake District. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-11-2.
• Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, Roger W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places X 43. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0 85361 281 1.
• Haynes, James Allen (April 1920). Cleator & Workington Junction Railway Working Time Table. Central Station, Workington: Cleator and Workington Junction Railway.
• Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (August 1982). Peascod, Michael, ed. "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (11). ISSN 1466-6812.
• Jackson, Stanley; Sisson, Norman; Haywood, T.R. (October 1982). Peascod, Michael, ed. "The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 2 (12). ISSN 1466-6812.
• Joy, David (1973). Railways of the Lake Counties. Clapham, via Lancaster: Dalesman Publishing Co. ISBN 0 85206 200 1.
• News, Notes and (August 1973). Slater, J.N., ed. "Lowca Light Railway Closes". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 119 (868).
• Quayle, Howard (2007). Whitehaven: The Railways and Waggonways of a Unique Cumberland Port. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISBN 978-0-9540232-5-6.
• Quick, Michael (September 2009). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology. Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5.
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978 0 7110 3695 6.
• Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
• Webb, David R. (October 1964). Cooke, B.W.C., ed. "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part Two". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (762).
• British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
• 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Joy, David (1983). Lake Counties (Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 094653702X.
• Marshall, John (1981). Forgotten Railways: North West England. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 7153 8003 6.
• Webb, David R. (September 1964). Cooke, B.W.C., ed. "Between the Solway and Sellafield: Part One". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 110 (761).

External links

• The closed station on an inter-war OS map, via National Library of Scotland
• The station, via Rail Map Online
• Latterday steam at Lowca, via flickr
• Latterday steam at Lowca, via flickr
• Industrial relics at Lowca, via flickr
• The line, via railwaycodes
• The Harrington collieries, via Haig Pit Mining Museum