Carnforth is a railway station on the Bentham and Furness Lines, sited north of Lancaster, England; it serves the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

of Carnforth, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

and managed by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

History

Carnforth railway station was opened on 22 September 1846 by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR); it had a single platform and was a second-class station. It became a junction on 6 June 1857, when the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway arrived from the north-west; the station served as the line's southern terminus. The Furness Railway took over the U&LR in 1862 and became the second major company operating to Carnforth. The station was enlarged during the 1870s. In 1880, it began receiving trains from the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

, following the commissioning of a south-to-east direct curve to the Furness and Midland Joint Railway, creating a triangular junction. The L&CR was taken over by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR), with the station operated under a joint management by the Furness Railway and LNWR; the Midland Railway had running powers into the station. Station personnel wore a uniform with the initials ''CJS'' for ''Carnforth: Joint Station''. The Furness Railway erected a distinctive stone-built signal box to the north-west of the station in 1882, used until 1903, and this survives preserved as a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building. A major rebuilding project, including a 300-yard long platform (currently used by northbound services), started in 1938 with government funding. With the opening of the new platform on 3 July 1939, it brought the number of platforms in use to six. In 1942, the government approved the rebuilding of Carnforth MPD into a major regional railway depot; the work was completed in 1944. The film ''

Brief Encounter ''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British Romance film#Romantic drama, romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life (play), Still Life''. The film stars Celia Johnson and ...

'' was partly filmed at the station in February 1945. The station clock became a powerful icon through repeated use in the film.

Withdrawal of West Coast Main Line services

The

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

(WCML) platforms were closed in May 1970, following the withdrawal of local stopping passenger services between Lancaster and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

two years earlier. The platform walls facing the fast lines were demolished, cut back and fenced off before the commissioning of 25 kV overhead electrification in 1974. This made Carnforth a secondary line station, even though it is situated on the main line, as WCML trains cannot call. In 2011,

rejected proposals to reopen the main line platforms, stating that there would be too few passengers to justify slowing down trains. Only the former platforms 4 (the original Furness Railway through platform) and 6 (the LMS 1939 platform) remain in use (now renumbered 1 and 2); the old 'Midland bay' (No 5), which once catered for services on the Furness and Midland Joint Railway (between Carnforth and ) has had its track removed. Responsibility for the signalling at the station is divided between Preston PSB (main line) and the surviving manual ex-Furness Railway signal box at Carnforth Station Junction, sited just past the junction between the Barrow and Leeds lines. This has acted as the 'fringe' box to the PSB since the main line was resignalled in 1972/3. Two other boxes (F&M Junction and East Junction) were closed and demolished when the northern side of the triangle (avoiding the station) was decommissioned in 1998.

Refurbishment

After lying in a semi-derelict state for many years, the station buildings were refurbished between 2000 and 2003 and returned to commercial use. An award-winning Heritage Centre including a small railway museum and the ''Brief Encounter'' refreshment room, a number of shops and a travel/ticket office occupy the buildings. The outer half of the non-operational up main (southbound) platform is in use as the access route to the subway, the active platforms and tearoom. Since the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

, the station has been operated by First North Western (1997–2004), First TransPennine Express (2004–2016),

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North Limited, branded as Northern by Arriva, was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operator Northern Rail. A subsidiary ...

(2016–2020) and

(2020–present)

Facilities

The booking office is staffed part-time (six days per week, closed Sundays and public holidays). It is run by an independent retailer on behalf of the local authority, but sells a full range of

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

tickets. Both platforms have waiting rooms and step-free access (by the aforementioned subway ramps) from the station entrance, whilst train running information is provided by automated PA announcements, timetable posters and digital information screens. There is also a micropub called ''The Snug'', which was the first of its kind to be set up in the North West and has been in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. It hosts an annual beer festival inside the Heritage Centre in mid-to-late November. To the west of the station lies Carnforth MPD, which is also the headquarters of West Coast Railways.

Services

operates all National Rail services that stop at Carnforth, on the following lines:

Bentham Line

As of the May 2025 timetable change, eight trains per day (five on Sunday) operate between Lancaster and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, via

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

. Most run to and from . Rolling stock used: Class 150 ''Sprinter'' and Class 158 ''Express Sprinter''

Furness Line

As of the May 2023 timetable change, eleven trains per day (seven on Sunday) operate between and , with an hourly service running between Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness. Some trains continue to

, via

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

. Rolling stock used: Class 156 ''Super Sprinter'' and Class 195 ''Civity''

Morecambe Branch Line

A single early morning direct service to Morecambe, using the north curve at , operates on weekdays and Saturday. It is a parliamentary train, providing a statutory minimum service over this stretch of railway.

References

External links

* * {{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Railway stations in Lancaster DfT Category F1 stations Former Furness Railway stations Former Lancaster and Carlisle Railway stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1867 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1880 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880 Railway stations served by Northern William Tite railway stations 1846 establishments in England Stations on the West Coast Main Line Carnforth