Bootle railway station

For railway stations in Bootle, Merseyside, see Bootle New Strand railway station and Bootle Oriel Road railway station.
Bootle National Rail
Location
Place Bootle
Local authority Copeland
Coordinates 54°17′24″N 3°23′42″W / 54.290°N 3.395°W / 54.290; -3.395Coordinates: 54°17′24″N 3°23′42″W / 54.290°N 3.395°W / 54.290; -3.395
Grid reference SD093892
Operations
Station code BOC
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Decrease 14,946
2011/12 Decrease 12,792
2012/13 Increase 13,312
2013/14 Decrease 11,496
2014/15 Increase 13,862
History
Original company Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway
Pre-grouping Furness Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
8 July 1850 (1850-07-08) Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bootle from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bootle Railway Station, situated in the hamlet of Bootle Station, serves the village of Bootle and the neighbouring hamlet of Hycemoor in Cumbria, England. The railway station is a request stop on the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line 24 miles (39 km) north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services.

History

The Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway was authorised in 1847 for a line which would link the town of Whitehaven with the Furness Railway at Broughton-in-Furness.[1] It was opened in stages, and the section between Ravenglass and Bootle opened on 8 July 1850.[2][3] The last section between Bootle and Broughton-in-Furness was opened for passenger services 1 November 1850:[4] trains carrying Lord Lonsdale and invited guests had travelled over the section on at least two occasions in October.

The station buildings in 1998

Facilities

It has retained its main building, but this is now a private residence and the station is unstaffed.[5] There are no ticket facilities, so these must be bought prior to travel or from the conductor on the train. Shelters are present on both platforms, with the wooden one on the northbound side being the more substantial of the two. A level crossing with hand-operated gates (and supervising signal box) links the platforms, which both have step-free access from the road.[6] Train running information can be obtained by telephone or from timetable posters.

Services

Monday to Saturdays there is generally an hourly (with some longer gaps in the early morning and afternoon) request service southbound to Barrow and northbound towards Whitehaven and Carlisle. Some services continue beyond Barrow via the Furness Line to Lancaster & Preston.[7]

There is no evening or Sunday service.

Explosion on 22 March 1945

At about 22:17 on 22 March 1945 a wagon containing depth charges in a southbound freight train caught fire on approaching Bootle. The train crew, driver H. Goodall and fireman H.N. Stubbs, on becoming aware of the fire, stopped the train south of Bootle station. Despite the fierce fire, the crew isolated the burning wagon by uncoupling the rear portion of the train, then drawing it forward to before uncoupling the burning wagon. With the wagon isolated, the fireman went forward to protect the northbound line while the driver went back in a possible attempt to fight the fire. At this point the depth charges violently exploded, killing the driver and creating a crater 105 feet long to a depth of 50 feet. The line was closed for three days whilst the crater was filled in and the track relaid.

View southward, towards Barrow-in-Furness and Carnforth in 1966

References

  1. Rush, Robert W. (1973). The Furness Railway 1843-1923. The Oakwood Library of Railway History. Lingfield: Oakwood Press. pp. 33–34. OL35.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 39. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. "Opening of the Railway to Bootle". Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser. 9 July 1850. p. 3.
  4. "Local Intelligence". Carlisle Patriot. 2 November 1850. p. 2.
  5. Bootle Station Old Cumbria Gazetteer; Retrieved 2 December 2016
  6. Bootle (Cumbria) station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 2 December 2016
  7. GB eNRT 2016 Edition, Table 100 (Network Rail)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bootle railway station.
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Northern
Cumbrian Coast Line
Mondays-Saturdays only
Historical railways
Line open, station closed
Furness Railway
Line and station open


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.