Appleby railway station


Appleby railway station is a Grade II listed railway station which serves the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland in Cumbria, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services. The station is south east of Carlisle on the Settle-Carlisle Line.
The station was formerly called Appleby West, the older Appleby East station was nearby on the Eden Valley Railway. The buildings of Appleby East still survive.
Well-known railway photographer and enthusiast Bishop Eric Treacy died at Appleby railway station on 13 May 1978 after suffering a heart attack whilst waiting to photograph Evening Star, which was due to pass through the station on a rail tour. A plaque located on the down platform commemorates the spot.

History

The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders. Opened by the Midland Railway at the same time as the line itself in May 1876, it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was one of only two stations on the Settle-Carlisle line to remain open following the withdrawal of local stopping trains in May 1970.
Junction Diagram showing railways in the vicinity of Appleby. Present station is shown as MIDLAND STA.
When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail.
The line through the station is often used as a diversionary route for the West Coast Main Line for both passenger and freight trains. A pre-nationalisation milepost on the southbound platform marks the station's location miles from London on the Midland Railway route via Leicester, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds.

Facilities

The main brick-built station building with booking office and waiting room is located on the northbound platform. This is the original building of 1876. A smaller brick-built waiting room, also of 1876, is located on the southbound platform. A period wrought iron lattice footbridge links the two platforms. Step-free access to both is also available. The booking office is open for 9 hours, six days per week - tickets can be purchased from a ticket vending machine when the office is closed. Train running times are available via telephone and timetable posters, with digital information screens also in the process of being commissioned here.
To the north are a number of engineers sidings and an active signal box.
The main station building is Grade II listed; the waiting room on the northbound platform and the station's footbridge are separately Grade II listed. The footbridge was moved to Appleby West from Mansfield Station in 1901.

Services

There is generally a service every two hours daily northbound to Carlisle and southbound to Leeds - eight each way in total since the May 2018 timetable change, a modest improvement on the former schedule of seven northbound & six southbound trains on weekdays, plus an extra SX early morning departure to Kirkby Stephen only and an extra morning departure for Leeds on Saturdays that applied prior to May 2011.
Six services each way call on Sundays - plus an extra train in summer - the DalesRail service to/from &.
Services had been disrupted from 28 January 2016, due to a landslip at Eden Brows which destabilised the embankment on the eastern side of the railway, where it passes through the Eden Gorge. An emergency timetable was put into operation, with trains from the south terminating or starting at Appleby, and buses running between Appleby and Carlisle. Since 27 June 2016 some rail services were restored further north to Armathwaite, with bus links to and from,, Appleby and Armathwaite continuing to supplement the train service. Repair works were due to continue until the end of March 2017. These were completed on schedule, with the line reopening through to Carlisle on 31 March 2017.

Steam Specials

There is a water tank with water crane at the south end of platform 2 which is used to supply steam locomotives which stop with southbound trains during special excursions on the Settle and Carlisle line.