Ulverston railway station

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Ulverston National Rail
265px
Location
Place Ulverston
Local authority South Lakeland
Grid reference SD284778
Operations
Station code ULV
Managed by First TransPennine Express
Number of platforms 2
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05   0.164 million
2005/06 Increase 0.168 million
2006/07 Decrease 0.147 million
2007/08 Increase 0.189 million
2008/09 Increase 0.190 million
2009/10 Increase 0.213 million
2010/11 Increase 0.240 million
2011/12 Decrease 0.225 million
2012/13 Increase 0.273 million
2013/14 Decrease 0.267 million
History
Key dates Opened 1857 (1857)
National Rail – UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ulverston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
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Ulverston railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Ulverston in Cumbria, England. It is located on the Furness Line from Barrow-in-Furness to Lancaster. It is operated by First TransPennine Express.

It is primarily served by regional express services operated by TransPennine Express from Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness. Additionally it is served by local services operated by Northern Rail from Lancaster to Barrow-in-Furness, with some continuing to Sellafield or Carlisle via the Cumbrian Coast Line. The current buildings are architecturally fine and date from 1873, when they were rebuilt as befitting one of the main stations of the Furness Railway. The clock tower and glass awnings, now extensively restored, are particularly fine.

History

The Furness Railway's line from Barrow & Dalton-in-Furness was the first railway to serve the town, being completed on 7 June 1854.[1] Three years later the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway opened the line southwards to Carnforth via Arnside and built a new through station on the current site, which opened on 26 August 1857,[2] leaving the old FR terminus to be used as a goods depot. The Furness Railway then took over the Ulverston & Lancaster company in 1862.

The unusual platform layout (where the northbound line has a face on both sides) is a legacy of the station's former role as the interchange for the branch line to Lakeside, which diverged from the main line at Plumpton Junction a few miles to the south before heading north-eastwards through Haverthwaite to its terminus at Lakeside on the southern shore of Windermere. The island platform allowed easy cross-platform interchange for those passengers travelling from the south changing onto the connecting service to Lakeside whilst those wishing to exit the station could do so by alighting on the opposite side platform. Today only platforms one and three are used.

The branch opened on 1 June 1869[3] and was well-patronised from the outset in the summer months by tourists, who could make a convenient transfer to the Windermere steamboats at Lakeside. The line was much quieter in winter though and year-round services ended in the autumn of 1938 - passenger trains thereafter running only during the summer. This continued until 6 September 1965,[4] when the line fell victim to the Beeching Axe. Its northern end was subsequently reopened on 2 May 1973[5] as the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway but the remainder was lifted in the early seventies and the trackbed used for improvements to the A590 road (over which passengers must continue their journey if heading to Lakeside today).

New facilities

In 2007 new digital information screens were installed allowing passengers to see the status of their train. These spent most of the New Year and Christmas period of 2007 and 2008 showing a Christmas message. These signs showed these messages until at least mid February 2008 but are now fully operational.

Services

There is normally one train per hour in each direction to Barrow and Lancaster on Monday to Saturday daytimes (with some peak period extras), although the varying nature of the services involved (most TransPennine Express regional trains are limited stop whilst the Northern Rail local trains serve all stations on the line) means that gaps between departures aren't regular (they can be anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes[6]). TPE trains continue southbound to Lancaster, Preston and Manchester Airport (plus one to Blackpool North, Mon-Fri) (except for one service that reverses at Morecambe and heads north to Windermere) whilst the local Northern services normally terminate at Lancaster. Northbound there are four through trains each day beyond Barrow to Carlisle via Whitehaven and one to Millom (connections for Cumbrian Coast stations are available at Barrow at other times).

In the evenings and on Sundays (afternoons only during winter months), there is a two-hourly all-stations service in each direction.

Notes

  1. ↑ History of the Furness Railway Accessed 2008-08-29
  2. ↑ R.V.J. Butt, The Directory of Railway Stations, 1995, Patrick Stephens, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, page 237
  3. ↑ Butt, 1995, page 109
  4. ↑ Butt, 1995, page 252
  5. ↑ Butt, 1995, page 115
  6. ↑ TransPennine Express Timetables www.tpexpress.co.uk; Retrieved 2009-02-25

External links

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
First TransPennine Express
Northern Rail
Disused railways
Furness Railway Terminus

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