THE GOODS AVOIDING LINES AROUND CARLISLE

Before the Railway Groupings of 1923 there were seven different railway companies which served Carlisle. In a sense all of them had Carlisle as their teminus as through workings were handed over to another company with whom there was a working agreement. The consequence of this was that each company had its own loco. shed, its own goods warehouse and associated freight sidings / marshalling yard / coal yard. This situation had existed since the arrival of the Midland Railway in Carlisle in 1876 with the opening of what is now called' the Settle - Carlisle' (but to Carlisle railwaymen it was always 'the Midland'). Carlisle was a real bottle neck for traffic and had been so since well before the arrival of the last newcomer, but the Midland traffic exacerebated an already critical situation Over the years from 1860 to 1883 the railway system around Carlisle was transformed, with an enlargement of the station itself and the building in stagesof a complex system of lines linking all goods facilities to one another and to each incoming route. This railway system makes up the Carlisle Goods Avoiding Lines.

The situation as it stood in 1851, the year in which the MCR began to use the station for passengers, was that there were in effect goods avoiding lines to the South of the station. There were connections between the NER, MCR and LNWR. Additionally there was a line to the Canal basin from the NER. However there were crossings on the level with the LNWR passenger line and the NER line which joined the MCR and also went on to the Canal basin. From the maps of the time it appeared that all freight traffic along the North / South axis had to pass through the station, and this would also included traffic to and from Scotland heading for the NER and MCR.

In the remodelling of the station c 1865, a passing loop was established to the West the wallsof the enlarged station , thus allowing traffic to bypass the station, however this loop was short, deviating and rejoining the main North - South line near to the station and does not appear to have provided anything in the way of holding sections in which freight trains could be stacked waiting for right of way behind the passengers express services. There were however sidings within the station beyond the passenger lines. The NBR had arrived on the scene and effectively the canal branch became a goods avoiding line for traffic heading to or from the Waverley route.

. Although this loop represented an improvemt, operationallly it must have remained a nightmare, however worse was to come with the opening of the Midland routes in 1876, and as has been indicated, a new loco shed, freight warehouse, marshalling yard, sidings and coal handling facility. These were alongside the NER line coming in from the East, the MR had running powers over NER metals over the city approaches. MR facilities were on the South side of the NER lines and NER facilites.

The major alterations to Carlisle railwaty system were achieved from 1875 to 1883. Effectively freight traffic was banished from the Citadel station with the introduction of a North - South line which linked in with all seven routes - effectively there were only five routes in the last half mile to a mile. The GSWR and CR shared the CR metals from Gretna Junction - about nine miles, they were joined by the NBR (Including the Silloth Bay Railway) about a mile to the North of the station. To the South the NER and the MR shared rails over the last few hundred yards into the Citadel. The layout achieved in 1885 was only altered in small ways over the next eighty odd years, with some additional track for freight lines laid down to the North of Port Carlisle Branch Junction during World War 2.

The opening of the large Kingmoor Freight Yard in 1963 brought about a much needed rationalisation of freight traffic around Carlisle. The remarshalling of wagon load trains was centred on Kingmoor and most of the freight warehouses and goods facilities were closed. Dentonholme (ex GSWR) remained open as did London Rd (ex NER), The demise of steam brought about a major rationalistion of Locosheds. Traction maintenance was centred on a new building at Kingmoor on the opposite side of the tracks to the former steam loco. shed. The closure of the Waverley route and line to Silloth brought about the closure of the Canal branch so a much simplified set of lines remained by the 1970's

This was the planned final form, however fate intervened in the form of a runaway divided train on 1 May 1983. As described elsewhere, a train of mixed freight wagons, including some chemical tankers, divided coming down Shap from the South. A signalman in Carlisle Power Box realised what had happened and sent the runaway wagons round the Goods Avoiding Line. The runaway wagons came to grief on the Bridge over the River Caldew, adjacent to Denton Holme Goods station. The damage to the Bridge was sufficiently serious for British Rail, as it then was, to decide that a repair would not be effected. All North - South freight traffic would be routed through the Citadel station. Their expectation was that there would be sufficient traffic paths to accommodate all freight and passenger movements - they did not envisge a significant increase in traffic. They lifted the track and apparently sold the access to Sustrans - a charity which has the lauable target of establishing a network of safe cycleways across the country. Should the BR successor, Railtrack (in its latest incarnation) wish to reinstate this part of the Goods Avoiding Line, as has been mooted, there will be some negotations needed! According to contemorary maps of Carlisle (2002), available on the intenet, the link beteen the former LNWR route and the MCR has been taken out of service - yet another diminution of Carlisle as a centre, and also an additional hurdle for freight redevelopment!

 

Could there be a continuation to the saga?