Media centre

Thursday 3 Sep 2009

ANNUAL RAIL FESTIVAL AND AWARDS CEREMONY COME TO CARLISLE

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The annual Community Rail Festival organised by members of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) comes to Carlisle in September. Dozens of stands and events are being organised, including tours of the station cellars not usually open to the public, and Network Rail is opening the Cumbria coast railway to provide ‘the first Sunday service on the line for years.’

Neil Buxton, general manager of ACoRP SAID: “We are delighted to be bringing the Community Rail Awards and Community Rail Festival to Carlisle. Both these events are now in their fifth year, and continue to showcase the very best in community rail development.

“We’re also very grateful for the help and support we’ve received from the various train operators and other rail industry players. Events like these show that far from being disjointed, the railway industry can and does work together.”

Saturday 26 September will see platform four at the station decked with bunting and stands set up by community rail groups from around the country, all demonstrating what can be achieved by partnership working between volunteers, the rail industry and local authorities.

There will be several bands and musicians playing throughout the day, a farmer’s market, children’s entertainment, a model railway display, and five inch model locomotives including an A1 Tornado.

Local freight train operator DRS will have three full size engines in platform eight for visitors to look over.

Virgin Trains will be opening the cellars beneath the station for guided tours of parts of the station not normally seen by the public. The station has a varied history going back over 160 years (it opened on 1 September 1847) and the cellars have been used as a dynamo and engine house, a coal store, a lamp room, a joiners shop and more recently - in BR days – as staff facilities with lockers and cycle racks.

The Cumbrian Railways Association will be on hand to bring the history to life and answer questions from eager enthusiasts or curious locals.

Network Rail will be in the waiting room on platform four with its ‘Ghost Box,’ which is aimed at reinforcing the railway safety message. It will also have on display a section from what has become known as the ‘Harrington Hump,’ the low cost solution to low station platforms, plus photographs of the Hump in use.

On Sunday 27 September, Network Rail is opening all its signal boxes and manning level crossings on the Cumbria coast line. Normally on a Sunday trains only run between Carlisle and Whitehaven but train operator Northern will operate a special timetable so that trains can run the entire length of the route from Carlisle to Barrow.

This is so that passengers can take full advantage of the Cumbria Day Ranger ticket, which is being heavily discounted during the entire weekend. Normally costing £32 a day, it will cost just £24 and permits unlimited travel anywhere within the area.

The festival actually starts on the evening of Thursday 24 September with a civic reception for ACoRP members in the Beacon, Whitehaven, hosted by Cumbrian Coast Line CRP and Copeland Borough Council. The following day, delegates have a choice of three rail based itineraries designed to celebrate the beauty of some of the most scenic railway lines in the country.

They can choose between the famous Settle – Carlisle line, where they will learn about the work of the Settle Carlisle Partnership and visit the restored Midland Railway signal box in Settle; the Cumbria coast railway, accompanied by members of the Cumbria Coast Community Rail Partnership, finishing in a special trip on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway; or the multi-transport Lake District tour featuring train to Windermere, bus to Bowness, boat to Lakeside and a trip on the preserved Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.

In the evening, the annual Community Rail Awards are being held in the Swallow Hilltop Hotel in Carlisle to celebrate the very best in community rail.