Ghost Train #17 - Barnard Castle Choo Traditional Cache
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Ghost Train #17 - Barnard Castle Choo
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Size: 
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This is the 17th in our series and is located very close to the original passenger station of Barnard Castle. You can park very close to the cache but will require lots of stealth as at certain times of the day it is a high muggle area.
In 1856 the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway was formed with the object of building a freight line from Bishop Auckland to Barnard Castle and across the Stainmore summit in the Pennines to Tebay on the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway. This is a sparsely populated area and initially there were no proposals for a passenger service, the proposed line would carry iron ore from Barry in Lancashire to the blast furnaces of Teesdale while in the opposite direction coke and coal were carried to the iron ore mines which had flourished in the Furness district of Lancashire.
The Act for the construction of this line which by now included a passenger service, encountered practically no opposition and the Royal Assent was granted on 13th July 1857 with work starting at Kirkby Stephen six weeks later.
Despite the difficult terrain, progress on the 35 mile line between Barnard Castle and Tebay was rapid and this section opened to mineral traffic on 4th July 1861 with the passenger service commencing from a second terminus at Barnard Castle on 8th August 1861 with intermediate stations at Lartington, Bowes, Kirkby Stephen, Smardale, Ravenstonedale and Gaisgill.
The two stations at Barnard Castle were some distance apart necessitating a long walk. To alleviate this, trains from Darlington were diverted into the Lancashire Union station on 1st May 1862 and on the same day the original terminus was closed to passengers but remained open for freight until 5th April 1965.
Apart from the regular passenger service a number of excursions used the line including summer Saturdays only trains between the north-east coast and Blackpool and an unusual service which lasted until the lines closure was an unpublicised passenger train once every two weeks, normally on a Friday. This was The National Union of Mineworkers train from Durham to Ulverstone carrying injured and sick miners to their convalescent home at Conishead Priory. Its normal route was Durham, Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, Kirkby Stephen and Tebay.
When opened, the lines from Barnard Castle to Tebay and Kirkby Stephen to Penrith were both single, but sufficient land was purchased to enable a double line to be constructed if required and on the Lancashire Union all but three of the viaducts were built to take double track.
With the growth of freight traffic much of this line was doubled in stages between 1867 - 1874 and on the Eden Valley the sections between Appleby Station and Appleby Junction, and Clifton Moor to Eden Valley Junction were doubled. The three viaducts were eventually rebuilt.
Although the line between Darlington and Barnard Castle remained open as part of the branch to Middleton in Teesdale it was only a temporary reprieve as this too was quickly proposed for closure under the Beeching cuts closing to passengers on 30th November 1964 and to goods on 5th April 1965; the track was lifted shortly after closure.
The area has been massively developed and is now owned by Glaxo. Their main car park sits on the original site of the station and sidings.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jngpu lbhe Fcrrq...
Treasures
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