"Moor Row became the Crewe of the Iron Ore Moor."
I didn't come up with that, its from Wikipedia. But what a wonderful concept!
Moor Row Station opened on the 1st of July 1857. Whilst the station was a useful passenger facility, there is no doubt the main function of the railway network that radiated from Moor Row was principally industrial, serving the various producers of stone, coal, and above all, iron ore. The first line came fromm the west, from the outskirts of the town of Whitehaven. To the south a line was extended to the market town of Egremont, and ultimately Sellafield. to the north east a line was built to Cleator Moor, Frizington, Rowrah and on down the remote Marron valley, where at Marron Junction it joined the Workington to Cockermouth line. A line was built north to avoid the bottleneck of Whitehaven and the single bore Whitehaven Tunnel. This line ran north across Keekle Viaduct to Moresby Parks, Distington and ultimately the furnaces of Workington.
Passenger services were never commercially succesful. By April 1931 services to both Workington and the Marron valley were withdrawn. In January 1935 the service to Egremont and Sellafield ceased. Services to Sellafield were reinstated for barely a month in 1940 to service the Royal Ordnance Factory at Drigg. In 1945 trains were reintroduced to serve the Sellafield Nuclear Plant. These ended in September 1965 and Moor Row station finally closed.
Freight traffic continued from Rowrah Quarry until February 1978, and from Beckermet Iron Ore Mine until October 1980. The last remnant of line closed in November 1980, but it wasn't until 1993 that the track was finally lifted.
There was an engine shed and maintenance depot at Moor Row, along with an extensive area of sidings.
Nowadays the trackbed forms part of the National Cycle Network Route 71. (The Coast to Coast or C2C) Depending which guidebook you use, the Coast to Coast walking route also passes the former station. A platform serves as a reminder of its former life.
Two images below, credited to Walter Dendy, deceased, taken from the Geograph website.
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This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found on the SideTracked Series website at www.sidetrackedseries.info https://www.sidetrackedseries.info