The Scenic Haverthwaite & Lakeside Railway

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway runs from Haverthwaite at the southern end of the line via Newby Bridge to Lakeside at the southern end of Lake Windermere. The railway is a former branch line of the Furness Railway and was opened on 1 June 1869. The line was served by local passenger trains which started their journey at Ulverston on the Furness Railway mainline from Carnforth to Barrow-in-Furness. The branch line trains travelled east to the triangular junction at Plumpton and then turned north via Greenodd, then on to stations at Haverthwaite, Newby Bridge Halt and Lakeside. The weekdays passenger service in July 1922 comprised eight trains in each direction. There were advertised train-to-boat connections that were established in 1869. During the summer season, excursion trains from Lancashire and elsewhere used the east-to-north side of Plumpton Junction to reach Lakeside, where their passengers joined the boat sailings on the lake.

British Railways closed the line to passengers on 6 September 1965, and to all traffic two years later.
Although reopening of the full line (the connection from Carnforth on the mainline and onto the branch line) was proposed, however, it ultimately failed because of the need to build a number of motorway bridges and re-routing of the A590 road from Haverthwaite via Greenodd to Plumpton Junction, hence the truncated remaining line could only run from Haverthwaite to the terminus at Lakeside, the line as it is today re-opened as a heritage railway on 2 May 1973.

Appearances in the media:

In Christopher Awdry's book "Thomas & Victoria", the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway is featured as part of the railway route where Victoria worked along both Helena and Albert before coming to Sodor. In the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series, the railway was filmed for a series of short educational segments entitled "Down at the Station."

In the adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, Dumb Witness, by ITV for its television series, Agatha Christie's Poirot, the opening scene was filmed at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, at the Lakeside terminus.

The railway and Haverthwaite station are featured in the video to Never Went to Church by alternative hip hop band The Streets.

Edited from Wikipedia Sources (DRW Supports the Wikipedia Foundation)

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