Vital time for station.

As the battle for the future of Carnforth station   rumbles on the Guardian, through its Save Our Station campaign the Guardian, through its Save Our Station campaign,  looks at the latest developments. Judith Dornan reports

HISTORIC Carnforth Railway Station is to get more cash from the city council to help a £1.5 million project aiming to restore it to its former glory.

The Carnforth Station and Railway  Trust Company Ltd, a local charity set up in l996 to save the station from demolition, has been the go-ahead by the city council to fund a project officer for a further three months to work on the plans.

The council's economic  development and tourism policy committee had given £l,500 in 1998 to fund the project officer to develop proposals to refurbish the station and convert buildings to a workshop. cafe and visitors'  centre  and this week agreed to release a further £500.

More work is needed on the project following a major disappointment for the Trust when the Heritage Lottery Fund refused its bid for funds recently.

The project officer's role is to negotiate with Railtrack and other firms over leases on the station and also to raise further funds to help complete the scheme. The Trust has obtained planning permission for the scheme which include the reinstatement of the Refreshment Room, scene of romantic meetings between Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in the classic British movie Brief Encounter. The Trust also intends to restore the station buildings and convert them to a mix of uses including a visitors' centre celebrating Carnforth's railway and industrial history and facilities for tourist shopping. So far, around £286,000 has been raised  towards the scheme from bodies including Lancashire County Council, LAWTEC, the North West Development Agency and many local individuals and businesses.

Other funding applications worth around £l million are still being considered but would have to be given the go-ahead by this summer to meet Railtrack's programme.

Chairman of the trust, Peter Yates, said: "We are extremely grateful to the city council. We feel they have really got behind the project.

"Railtrack have put a deadline on us of the end of July to get the funding in place. We just hope that we can do every- body justice and get the total amount of funding together. "We are about half-way there but there are still a lot of question marks."   

Steeped in history

ALTHOUGH now in decline, Carnforth Station was once central to the development of the town as a whole.

Then made famous for the setting for the platform scenes in the classic film "Brief Encounter," and the world watched Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard against the back- ground of the station's subway, clock and refreshment room.

But, although its movie history may be the thing that attracts visitors, the station and railway has had a deep effect on the  history of the town as a whole.
Carnforth first gained a rail link in 1846 when a small station was opened on the newly built Lancaster and Carlisle Railway near the site of today's station.

In 1857, the Furness Railway opened and Carnforth became the terminus linking Barrow   and  the Furness Peninsula with the main West Coast London to Scotland line.
Then a joint venture between the Midland Railway and Furness Railway Companies led to the opening of the railway line in Wennington in 1886, linking Carnforth with the Midland Railway to Settle and Leeds.

The present station was built in 1880 and formed a unique junction between three different railway companies. Following this, Carnforth's growth as a railway town was rapid.

Extensive sidings and engine sheds for each of the companies were built and local iron, steel and mineral extraction industries grew up taking advantage of Carnforth's excellent transport links.

But in the l960s, the town's importance declined and, in the 1970s, the main line platform  closed following the electrification of the West  Coast main line.
Since then the station  has fallen into decline and its fine stone and slate buildings with their neo- Jacobean mullioned windows which formed such an atmospheric background in "Brief Encounter" are now in an advanced state of decay.

Although still operational, the station is now unmanned. Railtrack plc has been advertising the property for let for a number of years now and if a suitable use is not found, the buildings may finally be demolished.

Local concern led to the formation in 1996 of the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust Limited with the aim of saving the station and "preserving this monument to the rich industrial history of the town.  

Encounter a legend

FILM fans will flock to Carnforth with the launch of a tour that  allows people to walk onto the film set of Brief Encounter.  Carnforth station's connection with the classic film is to be celebrated with a 'Brief Encounter Walk', run by local tour company Catwalks on behalf of Lancaster tourism.

The walk will also cover other gems in the station's long and distinguished history, as it was once an important railway centre in the golden age of steam locomotives.

The guided walks takes place Thursday July 15 at 2.30pm and July 22 at 7.30pm. They will also run on Thursdays in September from 2.30pm.

The tours, which are free of charge, leave the town's war memorial in Market Street and last about one and a half hours.

Further information can be obtained from Lancaster Tourist Information Centre on 01524 32878.

Lancaster Guardian 9 ^th July 1999

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