The station was constructed as part of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. Initially the railway was earmarked to go via Kendal. However, a tunnel would have had to have been built north of the town to accommodate this route. As it was deemed too expensive an option, a line running east of Kendal was adopted. The line between Lancaster and Oxenholme opened in September 1846. Trains from Lancaster passed through Oxenholme to a temporary terminus at. This ended when the line to Carlisle was completed in December 1847. With the decision to avoid Kendal, the Kendal and Windermere Railway was promoted instead with Oxenholme becoming a junction station. The branch line would be between Oxenholme and its terminus at . It opened in April 1847. The station's popularity with visitors to The Lakes was fictionalised by Arthur Ransome in the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, where it was renamed Strickland Junction. In Pigeon Post Roger releases a homing pigeon there.
Incidents
On 10 February 1965, fugitive John Middleton, who was hiding in the waiting room, shot and killed Carlisle policeman Alex Archibald at the station. His colleague, George Russell, who was also shot, died a few hours later in hospital. On 27 May 2006 a 19-year-old man was fatally stabbed aboard a Glasgow-Paignton train as it was entering the station. A 22-year-old man was jailed for 21 years for the murder in November 2006. The Grayrigg rail crash happened on 23 February 2007 when a Class 390Pendolino derailed shortly after it had left Oxenholme Lake District railway station; one person died and 22 others were injured in the crash.
Facilities
The station is fully staffed, with the ticket office open all week. A self-service ticket machine is also available in the booking hall for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Waiting rooms are provided on both platforms, along with a variety of other amenities such as post box, coffee kiosk, cycle racks, toilets, shop and food/drink vending machines. Train running information is offered via automated announcements, digital display screens and customer help points. The subway linking the platforms and both entrances has inclined ramps and so is accessible for disabled passengers.
Services
Most Avanti West Coast services from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh call here to provide connections with the Windermere branch. There is normally a train at least every two hours to London and every hour to Edinburgh or Glasgow. TransPennine Express services between Manchester Airport and Glasgow/Edinburgh also serve the station once per hour each way, as well as Northern services to and from Windermere. Most Windermere services start and terminate here, but some occasionally run through to Lancaster, Preston and Manchester Airport. Oxenholme and the Windermere branch are signalled from Carlisle PSB.
