"AL7" Carlisle
87035 Robert Burns heads out of Carlisle with an up service in January 1987.
The curved tracks on the right were formerly a double track connection to the Tyne Valley and Settle – Carlisle lines but on electrification was singled with the former up line now serving as a headshunt for the south end of the station.
The tracks below the bridge that the train is crossing was at times a very busy freight route with the right hand lines from Newcastle and Leeds and the left hand tracks from the WCML. At one time the three routes merged and then fanned out into three more directions, but the Waverley line closure in 1969 closed the Canal link and the Caldew Viaduct derailment in 1984 closed the Joint Goods lines leaving the Cumbrian coast line as the only option.
Note to pedants: If you've read this far without reaching for your keyboard to correct me well done! I'm aware there was no AL7, it's just a convenient chronical reference.
"AL7" Carlisle
87035 Robert Burns heads out of Carlisle with an up service in January 1987.
The curved tracks on the right were formerly a double track connection to the Tyne Valley and Settle – Carlisle lines but on electrification was singled with the former up line now serving as a headshunt for the south end of the station.
The tracks below the bridge that the train is crossing was at times a very busy freight route with the right hand lines from Newcastle and Leeds and the left hand tracks from the WCML. At one time the three routes merged and then fanned out into three more directions, but the Waverley line closure in 1969 closed the Canal link and the Caldew Viaduct derailment in 1984 closed the Joint Goods lines leaving the Cumbrian coast line as the only option.
Note to pedants: If you've read this far without reaching for your keyboard to correct me well done! I'm aware there was no AL7, it's just a convenient chronical reference.