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Kendal and Windermere Railway
Pointless Railway
civil parish:-   Kendal (formerly Westmorland)
civil parish:-   Strickland Ketel (formerly Westmorland)
civil parish:-   Nether Staveley (formerly Westmorland)
civil parish:-   Hugill (formerly Westmorland)
civil parish:-   Windermere (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   railway
SummaryText:-   from Oxenholme on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, through Kendal, Burneside, Staveley, to Windermere, Westmorland. One long siding; no points.
references:-   image
RWY005.jpg


photograph
BLK49.jpg  Train leaving Oxenholme Station.
(taken 18.11.2005)  
photograph
BLV93.jpg  Railway N from Plantation Bridge.
(taken 15.4.2006)  

evidence:-   poem:- 
source data:-   "ON THE PROJECTED KENDAL AND WINDERMERE RAILWAY."
"Is there no nook of English ground secure
From rash assault? Schemes of retirement sown
In Youth, and 'mid the busy world kept pure
As when their earliest fowesr of hope were blown,
Must perish. How can they this blight endure?
And must he, too, his old delights disown,
Who scorns a false utilitarian lure,
'Mid his paternal fields at random thrown?
Baffle the threat, bright scene, from Orrest Head,
Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance!
Plead for thy peace thou beautiful romance
Of Nature! And if human hearts be dead -
Speak, passing winds:- ye torrents with pure, strong,
And constant voice, protest against the wrong"
William Wordsworth, 12 October 1844:- 

evidence:-   poem:- 
source data:-   "The hour may come, nay must, in these our days,
When the harsh steam-car with the cataract's shout,
Shall mingle its swift roll, and motley rout
Of multitudes these mountain echoes raise.
And thou, the patriarch of these pleasant ways,
Canst hardly grudge that crowded streets send out,
In Sabbath glee, the sons of care and doubt,
To read these scenes by light of thine own lays.
Disordered laughter and encounter rude,
The Poet's finer sense perchance may pain;
Yet many a glade and nook of solitude,
For a quiet walk and thought will still remain,
Where the poor intruders may elude,
Nor loose one golden dream for all their homely gain."
Monckton Miles, about 1844 

evidence:-   old map:- Garnett 1850s-60s H
placename:-  Kendal and Windermere Railway
source data:-   Map of the English Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s.
image
GAR2SD49.jpg
"Kendal &Windermere Railway"
triple line, light bold light, railway 
image
GAR2SD59.jpg
item:-  JandMN : 82.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old text:- Martineau 1855
source data:-   Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.
image MNU1P003, button  goto source
Page 3:-  "The traveller arrives [at Windermere], we must suppose, by the railway from Kendal, having been dropped at the Oxenholme Junction by the London train from the south, or the Edinburgh and Carlisle train from the north."
"..."
image MNU1P005, button  goto source
Page 5:-  "... When the traveller foot or horseback sees certain reaches of Lake Windermere from Orrest Head, lying deep down below him, he knows he is coming near the end of the railway, which cannot yet plunge and climb as our old mail roads must do, ... The old coach road over Orrest Head and the railway meet at the new village of Windermere, ..."

evidence:-   old map:- Prior 1874 map 1
placename:-  London and North Western Railway
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving or lithograph? Winander Mere, scale about 2.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1874.
image  click to enlarge
PI03M1.jpg
"London &N.W. Railway"
double line, chequered; railway 
item:-  private collection : 133.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old advertisement:- Jenkinson 1875 B
placename:-  London and North Western Railway
source data:-   Advertisement for the London and North Western Railway, published by Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, London, 1884.
image  click to enlarge
JK1208.jpg
Adverts p.14 at the back of Jenkinson's Smaller Practical Guide to Carlisle, Gilsland, Roman Wall and Neighbourhood. 
item:-  Armitt Library : A1717.9
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- LMS 1939 B
source data:-   image  click to enlarge
LMS6Cm.jpg
"MAP OF LMS RAILWAY"
item:-  JandMN : 1016.5
Image © see bottom of page


photograph
BLW38.jpg (taken 18.4.2006)  
photograph
BLW36.jpg (taken 18.4.2006)  

hearsay:-  
On the initiative of Cornelius Nicholson, owner of the paper mill in Burneside, and others the railway was proposed August 1844, to run from Oxenholme to Low Wood between Bowness and Ambleside. An Opposition Committe set up under Professor Wilson, October 1844. And William Wordsworth reacted. Opposition was dissipated when the line was cut back to end at Birthwaite, now Windermere.
Authorised by Act of Parliament, Victoria 8 and 9 cap 32: for making a railway from the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway to Birthwaite in the parish of Windermere, to be called:-
"The Kendal and Windermere Railway"
The railway ended at Birthwaite, just a tiny settlement; now grown into Windermere.
From 1973 the 10¼mile line has been referred to as a pointless railway; it has no points, is just one long siding.


Smith, Dick: 2002: Kendal and Windermere Railway: Cumbrian Railways Association:: ISBN 0 9549232 0 X
Mellentin, Julian: 1980: Kendal and Windermere Railway: Dalesman Books (Clapham, North Yorkshire):: ISBN 0 85206 610 4

person:-   railway company
 : Kendal and Windermere Railway
date:-   1845
 to 1858

person:-   railway company
 : Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
date:-   1858
 to 1879

person:-   railway company
 : London and North Western RailwayLNWR
date:-   1879
 to 1923

person:-   railway company
 : London, Midland and Scottish RailwayLMS
date:-   1923
 to 1948

person:-   railway company
 : British RailwaysBR
date:-   1948

goes through:-    engine shed, Oxenholme (3)
 Kendal Junction, Oxenholme
 railway bridge, Oxenholme
 engine shed, Oxenholme (2)
 Oxenholme Station, Oxenholme
 railway milepost, Oxenholme
 engine shed, Oxenholme
[railway bridge, Kendal (10)]
 railway bridge, Kendal (17)
 railway milepost, Kendal
 railway bridge, Kendal (9)
 railway bridge, Kendal (6)
 railway bridge, Kendal (4)
 railway bridge, Kendal (8)
 Kendal Station, Kendal
30.6.1845: authorized -  

22.9.1846: opened -  

1972: closed, goods -  

goes through:-    Kendal Station, Kendal
 Iron Bridge, Kendal
 Kendal goods branch, Kendal
 railway bridge, Kendal
[railway bridge, Kendal (11)]
[railway bridge, Kendal (12)]
[railway bridge, Kendal (13)]
[railway bridge, Kendal (14)]
[railway bridge, Kendal (15)]
 level crossing, Burneside
 railway milepost, Burneside
 Burneside Station, Burneside
 Burneside Junction, Burneside
 level crossing, Burneside (2)
 railway bridge, Strickland Ketel
 railway bridge, Strickland Ketel (2)
 Plantation Bridge, Nether Staveley
 railway bridge, Nether Staveley (3)
 level crossing, Staveley
 railway bridge, Staveley
 Staveley Station, Staveley
 railway bridge, Nether Staveley (2)
 railway bridge, Hugill
 railway milepost, Windermere
 railway crossing, Windermere (2)
 railway crossing, Windermere
 railway bridge, Windermere
 engine shed, Windermere
 Windermere Station, Windermere
30.6.1845: authorized -  

20.4.1847: opened -  

4.1969: closed, goods -  

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