Photograph © Cumbria Railways Association

Lakes Line :: History

1837

1837 saw the publication of The London and Glasgow railway the interests of Kendal considered - the advantages of bringing railway to the town, written by Cornelius Nicholson. The pamphlet promoted the benefits to the area if the proposed England to Scotland railway were to be routed via Kendal

Nicholson, one of the founders of the Kendal Natural History and Scientific Society and partner in the bookselling and printing business Hudson and Nicholson, felt that a direct rail link would encourage rich northern industrialists to locate in the area

...the merchant princes, and the Cotton Lords of Manchester, to exchange in a few hours the smoke of their factories and the miasmata of their home towns for the salubrious airs and silvery mists that floated around the hills

Whilst for working class day trippers Nicholson hoped that bringing the railway to the area would "draw them away from the haunts of vice and intemperance, and opening them out to them the beauties of nature by which their minds would be enlarged and hearts expanded".

By 1844

By 1844 the leading citizens of Kendal, realising that the England to Scotland railway would not be routed via Kendal, proposed the building of a separate line connecting to the mainline at Oxenholme. However, this suggestion was not without its opponents.

William Wordsworth protested strongly against the proposal as he felt that no good would come of enabling large numbers of 'uneducated persons' into the Lake District, as the area would be adversely affected by the influx of such visitors./

Look at the little town of Bowness, in the event of such railway inundations. What would become of it in this, not the retreat but the advance of ten thousand

The local paper, the Mercury, disagreed and felt that without the line Kendal will become one of those 'nooks' with which Wordsworth is so much enraptured.

The Bill, for the building of the Oxenholme to Windermere line, was presented in parliament and received Royal assent on 30th June 1844. Cornelius Nicholson cut the first sod on 16th July in front of a 'considerable concourse of spectators'.

1846

September 1846 saw the line opened from Oxenholme to Kendal. The Westmorland Gazette reported that

Monday last was a day that will be memorable in the annals of Kendal. Never, perhaps, since the opening of the Kendal Canal 27 years ago, was the town such a scene of amusement and hilarity.

1847

1847 saw the inaugural trip on the now complete Oxenholme to Windermere railway.

On arriving at the terminus the view of the Lake gleaming in the sunshine, and then partly hidden behind some wooden promontory, and backed by a fine outline of bolder hills was magnificent. Although the station is a long way from completion, not being even roofed, an extensive platform has been laid down in front of it, an which the throng of visitors alighted

1853

Fire breaks out at 11am on the 15 May 1853 at Birthwaite (later to be renamed Windermere) Station. Mr Harrison's Joiners shop, located in the station, was destroyed before the Kendal fire brigade,transported by train, were able to put the fire out with water also transported by train from Black Moss

1858

The hamlet of Birthwaite, the line's terminus, is renamed Windermere by the Post Office

1947

Rail is nationalised through the Transport Act of 1947. Some of the services withdrawn during WW2, such as the Club carriage and direct service to Grange, are not reinstated.

1962

Carriages from the Blackpool to Windermere service crash through the buffers and straight through a wall at Windermere station after being detached from the engine. No one was hurt and the two railway men onboard were able to jump off before the collision.

1968

Steam trains were phased out on British Rail. The Windermere branch line was one of the last to see steam in service.

1973

Windermere branch line was reduced to a single track. Kendal station up platform and buildings were demolished in 1974

1980

What remains of Windermere Station was sold to supermarket chain Booths

1984

Lakes Line Action Group formed. The group campaigns for and raises funds to construct a station building at Windermere, opened in 1986, and a shelter on Kendal station opened in 1991

2006

The Lakes Line becomes a Community Rail Partnership. Investment in the line results in a refurbished Windermere booking office, infomation sceens along the line and a new fleet of 185s