The Stainmore Railway

We called in to Kirkby Stephen East station on our way to the Lake District. The Stainmore route was a coast-to-coast railway that crossed the Pennine moorlands, joining Darlington on the East Coast Main Line in the east to Penrith and Tebay on the West Coast Main Line in the west. The line was opened by the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway in 1861, primarily to carry coal and iron ore. The mountain route involved the construction of a series of bridges and viaducts. The line closed as a through route in 1962.

The Stainmore Railway Company was set up in 2000 as a heritage centre based on the station site at Kirkby Stephen, which has since been restored. Trains operate on a short section of reinstated track heading west. On the day we visited, two beautifully restored ex-LNER Gresley teak carriages were sandwiched between two top-and-tail diesels for the brief round trip along the line. As with so many of the heritage lines during this hot summer, the usual steam power was not operating because of the risk of lineside fires. Part of the track bed to the east of the station has become a multi-use recreational path, which heads off up the Eden valley and into the hills where some of the remaining viaducts can still be seen.