Barras railway station was situated on the

South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway The South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) built a railway line linking the Stockton and Darlington Railway near Bishop Auckland with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (the West Coast Main Line) at Tebay, via Barnard Castle, Stainm ...

between

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum has an 18th-century Silver Swan automaton exhibit ...

and Kirkby Stephen East.

History

The station was situated at an altitude of and was the highest station in England until Dent station on the nearby Settle and Carlisle Line was opened in 1877. The

Stainmore Summit Stainmore Summit is the Route summit, highest point on the trans-Pennines, Pennine South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway, also known as the ''Stainmore Railway'' in Northern England. Located on Stainmore between Barras railway station, Barra ...

at lay to the east and the substantial

Belah Viaduct The Belah Viaduct was a railway viaduct on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, crossing the River Belah, in Cumbria, England, about south of the village of Barras, Cumbria, Barras and east north east of Kirkby Stephen. It was c ...

was one mile to the southwest. The station served the villages of Barras, Brough and North Stainmore. The line was opened on 26 March 1861 when a mineral train was run, the line opened to passengers on 8 August 1861 following an opening ceremony the day before, but Barras station is noted in the published timetable as having no trains stopping, it first appeared to be open for passengers from February 1862. The station was host to a

camping coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many Rail transport, railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The Coach (rail), coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in tr ...

in 1935 and 1936 and possibly also in 1934. The station was closed by British Railways North Eastern Region on 22 January 1962. Freight facilities had been withdrawn on 1 December 1952 and from that date it had been operated as an unstaffed halt for passengers only. The main station buildings and a small goods yard and siding were constructed on the north side of the line, serving eastbound trains. There was a waiting shelter for passengers which was located on the westbound platform. In July 2007, the up platform waiting room was removed brick by brick by

Stainmore Railway Company Stainmore Railway Company is a volunteer-run, non-profit preservation company formed in 2000 with the aim of restoring Kirkby Stephen East railway station in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, England. In 1997 a company called Stainmore Properties Ltd. w ...

volunteers. Materials were subsequently stored at Kirkby Stephen East station, and in 2015 began a new lease of life as part of the new water tower which was built at the railway's headquarters. This project also re-used stone from Mousegill Viaduct, which was in close proximity to Barras station on the

before being blown up as part of an

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

training exercise in 1966.

Services

The

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

North Eastern Region published passenger timetable for October 1950 showed that four trains called at the station in each direction on weekdays en route from

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

to Kirkby Stephen. Local freight trains also served the Barras goods yard and through freight trains from the northeast via Stainmore and Tebay to

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

also passed through the station. Heavy snow falls frequently interrupted operations on the Stainmore line. In February 1955 an eastbound steam locomotive and its goods train became stuck for four days in deep snow just north of the station. Its recovery was recorded in an official film '' Snowdrift at Bleath Gill''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Barras railway station on Disused Stations
{{coord, 54.50308, -2.24241, type:railwaystation_region:GB_source:subbrit.org.uk-enwiki, display=title South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway Disused railway stations in Cumbria Former North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1962 1862 establishments in England