Nethertown railway station

Nethertown
Location	Nethertown, Copeland England
Coordinates	54°27′22″N 3°33′56″W / 54.4561682°N 3.5655406°W / 54.4561682; -3.5655406Coordinates: 54°27′22″N 3°33′56″W / 54.4561682°N 3.5655406°W / 54.4561682; -3.5655406
Grid reference	NX985079
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Other information
Station code	NRT
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Furness Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway British Rail (London Midland Region)
Key dates
18 July 1849	Opened
Passengers
2016/17	412
2017/18	536
2018/19	516
2019/20	730
2020/21	254
Location
Nethertown Location in Copeland, Cumbria Nethertown Location in Cumbria, England Show map of the Borough of CopelandShow map of CumbriaShow all
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Nethertown is a railway station on the Cumbrian Coast Line, which runs between Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness. The station, situated 39 miles (63 km) north-west of Barrow-in-Furness, serves the village of Nethertown in Cumbria. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

Nethertown is the currently the least-used station in Cumbria, with an estimated 730 passenger journeys made during 2019/20.

History[]

The Cumbrian Coast Line, heading north towards Whitehaven.

The station was opened on 19 July 1849 by the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway when it opened the line between Whitehaven and Ravenglass.^[1]

In 1914 at the start of World War I the passing loop was expanded to cater for the increased length of trains and to help with the extended length of trains brought about by World War I. In May 1916 the shunting neck was extended and an additional 90 yards of sidings were provided.

The station was host to six LMS caravans from 1937 to 1939.^[2]

The station was a passing loop until the 1970s when it was singled due to fall-off in traffic and train frequency. It was particularly busy with passenger traffic in the 1940-50s when it served the Nethertown military camp for training anti-aircraft gunners, which was taken over after the war for the construction workers building the Sellafield Nuclear plant.

As of August 2019, the only facility is a passenger shelter on the single platform, but up until the early 1970s, the station had more substantial buildings as well the aforementioned signal box.^[3]

Location[]

The station is directly on the coast in a spectacular and remote position overlooking the Irish Sea from a small cliff. Pearson's 1992 railway guide is moved to comment, "The tiny halts at Braystones and Nethertown are as remote as anything British Rail has to offer....Nethertown station seems suspended between the cliff face and the sands".^[4] There is a vehicle track from the public highway and a footpath shortcut to the village.

Since 30 March 2021 the station has been on England's Coast Path with the opening of the St Bees to Silecroft section of that long distance path

On the seaward side can be seen the remains of the sea-filled swimming pool built by the contractors from the camp.

A foot level crossing connects the platform to the station approach track, and though this offers step-free access, the platform is low. A ramp has been installed to allow easier access on and off the train and the steps which were previously mounted on the platform have been removed.^[5] Timetable posters are available to offer train running information and there are electric lights during operating hours.

Services[]

Route 6
v t
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 Bootle Silecroft Millom Green Road Foxfield Kirkby-in-Furness Askam Barrow-in-Furness Roose Dalton Ulverston Cark and 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.

As of the 15 December 2019 timetable (still current from May 2021), five trains call in each direction (on request) from Monday to Friday, with one additional departure each way on Saturdays. The timetable stated briefly in 2019 that some Saturday services do not treat the station as a request stop, this reverted to all services being request in December 2019 and may have been a printing error as all local timetables had all trains as request only. There is no late evening service, but a limited Sunday service was introduced at the May 2018 timetable change;^[6] the first to run over this section since 1976. Currently the Sunday service consists of 4 trains in each direction.

References[]

Sources[]

External links[]

• Media related to Nethertown railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Train times and station information for Nethertown railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
St Bees		Northern Trains Cumbrian Coast Line		Braystones
	Historical railways
St Bees		Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway		Braystones