No.3 March 2010 - Intercity Railway Society

Network News
by Trevor Roots
Workington Shuttle:
On the 20 th November 2009 devastating floods swept away or forced condemnation of all the bridges
over the River Derwent in the west of Cumbria around Workington, effectively cutting the town in two.
The only bridge left standing was the rail bridge, which fortunately spanned the wider river mouth. The
loss of the A597 bridge, on which tragically PC Bill Barker died and the A596 bridge, left anyone wishing
to travel along the coast with a massive 20 mile detour to the next useable bridge, 6 miles inland at
Great Broughton. It was even worse for local pedestrians, particularly school children who could see
their destination on the other side of the river but had no access.
looking west to the coast, the remains of the coastal A597 road bridge,
on which PC Bill Barker died can be seen from the A596
the rail bridge is just out of sight to the left beyond and around the bend in the river
10 February 2010
the shuttle departing north from Flimby
with 47501 ‘Craftsman’ trailing
10 February 2010
the shuttle departing south from Flimby
with 47501‘Craftsman’ leading
10 February 2010
With Workington station in the main ton centre on the south side, Network Rail built a temporary station
to overcome the travel hardship on the north side of the river. Constructed largely of scaffolding, it came
into operation within 10 days and is named Workington North. The temporary car park can hold about
150 cars and was well patronised on the day I visited, so clearly the station serves a need. It is accessed
from an industrial estate just to the west of the A596. Tesco has also built an adjacent temporary store to
compliment its main store on the south side of the river. The local operator Northern Rail, has bolstered
its services with additional Cl.153 & 156 DMUs, the usual motive power on the route and DRS has been
hired in to provide a shuttle between Workington and Maryport, 5½ miles to the north. The service
between these towns, which also calls at Workington North and Flimby, is free. The shuttle consists of 4
coaches top and tailed by 2 DRS locos, normally a Cl.47 & 57 though Cl.37s were used initially. There
are twelve return trips with a journey time of 15 mins between the two ‘termini’ with the first service
departing Workington at 07.05 and the last arriving at Workington 19.30. The stock works to and from
Kingmoor DRS depot at the start and end of each day. The strange thing was that whilst the temporary
timetable was displayed at Maryport there was no sign at Flimby or more surprising at Workington North.
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