The Eden Valley Railway 1862 - 1989

The original Eden Valley Railway Company was formed in 1856 at a meeting in Appleby, then the county town of Westmorland, to build the line between Kirkby Stephen and Clifton just south of Penrith). The line was built by Lawson Bros, Newcastle and formed a link between the Darlington and Tebay (The South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, or Stainmore line), and Penrith, and opened to passengers on 7th June 1862.

The line carried both goods and passengers for almost 100 years, but was closed as a through route by British Railways, despite strong local objections. The route over Stainmore closed in 1962; British Railways very quickly lifted the track, demolished Belah viaduct and other structures, leaving only the section from Hartley Quarry to Appleby open to carry goods traffic until October 1974. This included a section of the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway near Kirkby Stephen. This traffic eventually went onto road transport, and then only the section from Appleby to Warcop was left, carrying goods to the Army training centre. The remaining branch effectively closed on 16th March 1989, but the track was not lifted over this 6 mile stretch.

The Eden Valley Railway 1995 on

The Appleby to Warcop line had become overgrown and derelict. At both Appleby and Warcop the station building are occupied as private dwellings, the signal box at Warcop still exists and is now undergoing restoration. The yard at Warcop will provide a site for the storage and maintenance of locomotives and rolling stock. The bridges on this section are still in place, some will require attention before passenger trains can run over them again, the whole length of line will require work on fencing and drainage. The condition of the remaining track varies from quite good, some relatively new on concrete sleepers to worn out on rotted wooden sleepers.
The Eden Valley Railway Society was formed in 1995 with the aim of reopening the remaining 6mile Appleby - Flitholme section, (phase one). 2002 saw the fortieth anniversary of the last passenger train over the Eden Valley and Stainmore routes and the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of the first. In order to achieve our aims the society formed the Eden Valley Railway Trust, a registered charity and the Eden Valley Railway Company, at the Society’s request a group of members and friends formed Stainmore Properties Ltd., in order to acquire and secure the former Kirkby Stephen East station site in readiness for the eastern extension (phase two). The Society was incorporated into the Trust on 1st April 2000. Passenger trains started running from Warcop toward Appleby in 2006.

Most of the track bed of the former route over Stainmore Summit to Barnard Castle or Bishop Auckland and the east is still intact, however the viaducts at Belah, Deepdale and Tees are sadly just memories, but who knows? Perhaps one day our grandchildren will once again experience the thrill of ‘flying’ over Belah or the sunset through a carriage window at Barras.