Everything about The Lancaster And Carlisle Railway totally explained
The
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) was a British railway company authorised on
6 June 1844 to build a line between
Lancaster and
Carlisle in
North-West England. The line survives to the present day as part of the
West Coast Main Line route between
Glasgow and
London.
History
The first sod was cut at
Shap Summit (the highest point on the planned route, 914 ft / 278.59 m above sea level) in July 1844. The original intention was to build a
single line, but in January the following year it was announced that the line would be
double track.
The railways opened in two sections:
The engineer for the line was
Joseph Locke who had been surveying routes between the two cities since 1836.
George Stephenson had surveyed other routes in 1835: one was to skirt the
Cumberland coast. The project was the largest single railway contract of the time (69 miles in length) and the contractor was
Thomas Brassey in partnership with William Mackenzie and John Stephenson. At its peak 10,000 men were involved and it was an incredible achievement to complete such an undertaking in only two and a half years. The main engineering features of the railway are the bridge at Lancaster; three substantial viaducts; and a high
embankment between
Grayrigg and
Low Gill. The embankment south of
Tebay was laid in the
bed of the
River Lune, which had been diverted from its course.
The cutting at Shap Summit was cut through rock, is about 0.5 mile (0.8 km) in length, and 50-60 feet (15.24 m to 18.29 m) in depth. The approach from the south, 30 miles (48.3 km) away at
Carnforth, is in two sections:
Carnforth to Grayrigg, 20 miles, the final five miles (8 km) being at 1 in 131/1 in 106
Grayrigg to Shap Summit: the first five miles (8 km) to Tebay relatively level, followed by five miles (8 km) at 1 in 75
The approach from the north is again of 30 miles (48.3 km):
Carlisle to beyond Penrith, 20 miles (32.2 km) at gradients varying between 1 in 131 and 1 in 228
thence to Shap Summit, ten miles (16.1 km) mainly at 1 in 125
The L&CR connected at the south with the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway a mile (1.6 km) to the south of the town; the new station was Lancaster Castle. In the north, trains ran into Carlisle (Citadel), opened on 1 September 1847.
Whilst independent the Lancaster & Carlisle was very profitable and usually made returns on its shares of around 10%.
In 1859 the L&CR was leased to the London and North Western Railway; it became part of the latter in 1879, and after 1923 the LMSR through to the creation of British Railways in 1948. BR electrified the route in the early 1970s as part of the WCML modernisation scheme of the period.
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