Railways in Cumbria

Even in today’s rationalised railway world, Cumbria – England’s most north-westerly county – offers a microcosm of what the iron road does. This variety was all the greater in the heyday of the railway, shaped by a distinctive geography and major economic forces in the form of mass tourism and concentrated industrial development. Add to the mix a lengthy coastline indented by estuaries and rivers such as the Coniston, Derwent, Duddon, Eden, Esk and Kent – and a strategic position en route from London to Glasgow – and you have a recipe for a glorious railway geography and history.

This unashamedly nostalgic album depicts the railways of the county using images primarily never before seen. Commencing at the county town of Carlisle the coverage ranges out clockwise covering the period 1939 to 1970 and from steam through to the early diesels. The famed Settle & Carlisle also naturally features, as well as routes that succumbed to Dr Beeching but are now brought back to life in these pages.