Silloth Battery Extension railway station

Location
	Silloth Battery Extension Location in present-day Allerdale, Cumbria Silloth Battery Extension Location in present-day Cumbria, England

Silloth Battery Extension
Silloth Battery Extension
General information
Location	Silloth, Cumberland; England
Coordinates	54°51′27″N 3°24′05″W / 54.8576°N 3.4013°W
Grid reference	NY101523
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway & Dock Company
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1886	Opened
About 1928	Closed
Location
Location
	Silloth Battery Extension Location in present-day Allerdale, Cumbria Silloth Battery Extension Location in present-day Cumbria, England

Carlisle and Silloth
Bay Railway

Overview
Locale	Cumbria
Dates of operation	1854–1964
Predecessor	Carlisle & Silloth Bay Railway
Successor	NBR
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

Legend

Silloth Battery Extension

Silloth Convalescent Home

Silloth Docks and Pier

Solway Junction Railway

southbound

Sleightholme

Abbey Junction

Solway Junction Railway

northbound

northbound

Port Carlisle Junction

Carlisle Canal

Carlisle

West Coast Main Line

southbound│northbound

Silloth Battery Extension railway station was the terminus of the Blitterlees Branch, which turned southwards off the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway's Silloth Branch a short distance east of Silloth station.^[3] The larger railway ran from Carlisle, England. The Bitterlees Branch does not appear on standard railway maps,^[4] but it is clear on OS maps, though the station is not identifiable as such.^[5]

The station's sole purpose was to serve the naval gun testing battery, built by Armstrong Whitworth.^[6] Most trains to the site consisted of military supplies, the passenger station was built to carry battery personnel and visitors, including royalty on at least one occasion. In 1895 the Shalzada of Afghanistan and Suite observed naval firing, but was said to be especially impressed with the Maxim machine gun.^[7]^[3]

Trains to the station were run on an ad hoc basis, the station never appeared on public timetables.

The station opened in 1886 and closed in 1928 when the battery closed, its operations being moved south to Eskmeals, near Drigg.

References

^ The station, via Cumbrian Railways Association
^ Quick 2009, p. 353.
^ ^a ^b Suggitt 2008, p. 103.
^ Jowett 1989, Map 36.
^ Puxley 2009, p. 32.
^ Images of the battery, plus local talk, via BBC and others
^ Thomlinson 1983, p. 12.

Sources

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.
Puxley, Chris (2009). The Port of Silloth 1858–2009: A Pictorial History Through 150 Years of a Solway Port. Portishead, Somerset: Bernard McCall. ISBN 978-1-902953-42-7.
Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
Robinson, Peter W. (2002). Cumbria's Lost Railways. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-205-6.
Suggitt, Gordon (2008). Lost Railways of Cumbria (Railway Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-84674-107-4.
Thomlinson, G. (May 1983). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Rails on the Solway". Cumbrian Railways. 2 (14). Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. ISSN 1466-6812.