St Thomas Cross Platform railway station

St Thomas Cross Platform
St Thomas Cross Platform
General information
Location	Cringlethwaite, Egremont, Cumbria, Copeland; England
Coordinates	54°28′35″N 3°31′21″W / 54.4765°N 3.5224°W
Grid reference	NY014100
Platforms	Unknown
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	LNWR & FR Joint Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
15 January 1912	opened for workmen's services
by 1933	Closed

Whitehaven, Cleator
& Egremont Railway

Legend

Cleator and Workington

to Carlisle

Marron Junction

Workington Central

Branthwaite

Distington

Distington Works

Summit

Whitehaven Tunnel

Yeathouse

Corkickle

Eskett

Mirehouse Junction

Eskett Junction

Moor Row

Frizington

St Bees

Cleator Moor West

(first)

St Thomas Cross Platform was a railway station used by workmen's trains on the Moor Row to Sellafield line on what is now the southeastern, Cringlethwaite, edge of Egremont, Cumbria, England.

History and location

The line on which the halt was built was one of the fruits of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the nineteenth century. Tracks were laid southwards from Whitehaven and Moor Row as far as Egremont by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway, opening to passengers on 1 July 1857. By the 1860s the company sought to extend southwards from Egremont to meet the coastal line at Sellafield, aiming for Millom, Barrow-in-Furness and beyond. The Furness opposed this, but the two companies came to an accommodation and built the Egremont to Sellafield extension as a joint line.

St Thomas Cross Platform was a Twentieth Century addition to the line.^[4] A service from Moor Row to Beckermet Mines, calling at Woodend, Egremont and St Thomas Cross was started on 15 January 1912, though it is possible that other workmen's services called before then, as Florence Mine was nearby.

The use of the term "Platform" usually signified that a station was an unstaffed halt. The halt must have been closed by 1933, when the structure was demolished.^[1] It was used by workers at the nearby Florence mine,^[2] which went on to be the last operating iron ore mine, as opposed to quarry, in Western Europe. It closed in 2008.

The halt does not appear on the relevant 1928 Railway Clearing House junction diagram or in Jowett.^[5]

The station is not marked on contemporary OS maps up to 6" to the Mile, but an unlabelled building with a footpath to the road is shown in the right place on the Cumberland 1:2,500 scale OS map linked below via Old OS Maps.

Afterlife

By 2013 the trackbed through the halt was clearly visible on satellite images, but the site itself appeared to be privately occupied.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Egremont (Cumbria) Line and station closed		LNWR & FR Joint Railway		Beckermet Mines Line and station closed
Egremont (Cumbria) Line and station closed		LNWR & FR Joint Railway		Beckermet Line and station closed

References

^ ^a ^b Robinson 1989, p. 39.
^ ^a ^b Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 122.
^ Butt 1995, p. xxx.
^ Suggitt 2008, p. 55.
^ Jowett 1989, Map 36.

Sources

Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
Robinson, Peter W. (February 1989). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Workmen's Trains to Beckermet Mines". Cumbrian Railways. 4 (3). Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISSN 1466-6812.
Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.