INDUSTRIES 



Company and became an integral part of the 

 great trunk line from London to Glasgow 

 and Edinburgh. The locomotive and iron 

 road have penetrated into the heart of the 

 Lake District and connected Keswick, its 

 capital, with Penrith on the east and Cocker- 

 mouth on the west. The south of Scotland 

 was brought into immediate relations with 

 the coal district of West Cumberland by the 

 construction of the Solway Junction railway, 

 remarkable for its great viaduct which spans 

 an arm of the Solway between Annan and 

 Bowness. It now forms a part of the Cale- 

 donian system. The Whitehaven, Cleator 

 and Egremont Company was incorporated in 

 1854 by Act of 17 & 1 8 Victoria, cap. 64, 

 and the line was opened for the conveyance of 

 passengers in 1857, having been previously 

 used for mineral traffic for about eighteen 

 months. 



A new development of railway extension 

 took place in 1853 when an Act 1 was obtained 

 to convert the ship canal from Carlisle to the 

 Solway into a railway. From a financial 

 point of view the canal was never a success 

 to the shareholders owing to the shifting 

 nature of the channel in the neighbourhood 

 of the port. A little lower down the firth a 

 natural haven was recognized in Silloth Bay, 

 and powers were procured in 1885 to con- 

 struct docks at this place and to extend the 

 new railway to that termination. The rail- 

 way which follows the track of the canal for 

 some distance, has been incorporated with the 

 North British system. The Midland Rail- 

 way was long excluded from the county and 

 the Scottish traffic beyond it. The share- 

 holders were alarmed at the engineering diffi- 

 culties in the way of extension of the line 

 from Settle in Yorkshire to Carlisle, and the 

 bill for the necessary powers of construction 



1 Act 1 7 Vic. cap. 1 1 9. 



was opposed by the landowners on the route. 

 Eventually all obstacles were surmounted and 

 the line was opened for goods in August 

 1875, and for passengers in May 1876. 



For a maritime county, so peculiarly situ- 

 ated as Cumberland, with great mountain 

 masses forming its southern boundaries and 

 severed from Northumberland and Durham 

 by the Pennine range of hills, its whole area 

 may be said to be well supplied with railway 

 communication. The Citadel station, which 

 forms the terminus for eight important rail- 

 ways running into Carlisle, viz., Midland, 

 London and North- Western, North-Eastern, 

 Caledonian, North-British, Glasgow and 

 South-Western, Maryport and Carlisle, and 

 Carlisle and Silloth lines, is built of white 

 stone in the Elizabethan style with a fine 

 entrance to the city through Court Square. 

 It is under the joint management of the 

 Caledonian and London and North-Western 

 companies. The station was extended under 

 the powers of an Act of 1873, and greater 

 accommodation was provided for the enor- 

 mous traffic, occasioned by the completion of 

 the Midland line. It is now reckoned one of 

 the finest railway stations in England. The 

 glass in the roof alone is said to cover an area 

 of 7 acres. The present staff consists of one 

 superintendent, one secretary, one night 

 stationmaster, seven inspectors, seven foremen, 

 twenty signalmen, eighteen ticket examiners, 

 four luggage-room attendants, four lavatory 

 attendants, eight ladies' room attendants, 

 eleven shunters, six shacklers, seven police- 

 men, thirty-six porters, four lampmen, two 

 engine-men, ten platelayers, eight painters, 

 joiners, plumbers, etc., one chief booking 

 clerk, nine booking clerks, one chief parcels 

 clerk, and sixteen parcels clerks, making a 

 total of 182 persons in the employment of 

 the railway authorities at Carlisle station. 



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