Smardale railway station was a minor station on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway between Tebay and Kirkby Stephen East. It served the villages of Smardale and Waitby. The station opened to passenger traffic on 8 August 1861, and closed on 1 December 1952.

Description and history

At the time of its opening in 1861 the only habitation in the village of Smardale was Smardale Hall. The station consisted of a single platform on the south side of the line, and stone built station buildings as well as two goods sidings.[1]

A signal box was added in the 1890s. During the First World War from 20 September 1915 the station closed being used as a halt but unstaffed. It reopened in 1919. The signal box was removed in the 1920s, and the station closed in 1952.[1][2]

In 2002 the preservation society Stainmore Railway Company (at Kirkby Stephen East) recovered two wagons which had derailed near the station and been left undisturbed for half a century.[3] As of 2013 the Stationmaster's house was still extant and formed the basis of an expanded private residence.[1]

References

Sources

• Walton, Peter (1992). The Stainmore & Eden Valley Railways. Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-306-7.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory Of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer. Ian Allan Publishing. 1997 [1958]. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.

Images

• Old Cumbria Gazetteer: Smardale Station www.geog.port.ac.uk
• Stainmore lines 1 The Cumbria Railways Association Photo Library, cra.photos.gb.net

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