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North from Carlisle – UK Rail Journeys Series 2 – Episode 15
In ‘North from Carlisle‘ I spend some time at Carlisle Citadel Station before boarding my ScotRail train to Glasgow.
Please click on a thumbnail to see the photographs that go with the podcast:
Glasgow and South-Western Railway:
I leave Carlisle on the lines built by the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, formed in 1850. A locomotive workshop at Kilmarnock in 1856 had Patrick Sterling as the locomotive superintendent for 10 years.
A magnificent terminus at Glasgow St Enoch Station. It opens in 1876 to coincide with the opening the Settle and Carlisle line. The Midland Railway agrees to run their Scotch expresses from St Pancras into St Enoch.
Sadly the station is no longer.
The Borders:
We pass the extensive Kingmoor marshalling yards which date from 1963. A part of the the 1955 Modernisation Plan for Britain’s Railways with the expectation of the withdrawal of steam, large goods yards and the closure of many lines.
Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, en route to confront Robert the Bruce, died of dysentery near here in 1307.
Eastriggs:
We pass the fenced sidings of Eastriggs MoD site, part of the H.M. Factory Gretna. Dating from in 1916, it was built as a response to a shortage of shells on the Western Front.
16,000 workers produced 800 tons of cordite each week. The vast works stretched over nine miles and straddled the English-Scottish border.
A 125-mile railway system, with six passenger stations, and up to sixty-two trains a day took the workforce to their factories. In addition, 1,700 goods wagons left the site every day.
There were fourteen ‘fireless’ locomotives, built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock, on the site. Fireless locomotives have a large, highly insulated, reservoir charged with steam.
Winding down after the Great War, a part survived for over 90 more years until 2010.
Listen to the podcast to hear more about my journey North from Carlisle.
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Music:
AKM Music licenses Steam Railway and Look at the detail for use in this podcast.