Dalegarth railway station

Dalegarth Eskdale
Station on heritage railway
River Mite arrives at Dalegarth, February 2016
General information
Location	Boot, Eskdale, Cumbria England
Coordinates	54.396°N 3.275°W / 54.396; -3.275
Grid reference	NY 174 008
Owned by	R&ER
Operated by	R&ER
Managed by	R&ER
Platforms	2
Key dates
1920s	Opened
Location
Dalegarth Location in Copeland Borough Dalegarth Location in Cumbria

Dalegarth railway station is the easterly terminus of the 15-inch gauge Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in the English county of Cumbria. It has a café and shop for passengers, along with a run-round loop, turntable and siding for trains.

The station is situated near the village of Boot in the civil parish of Eskdale and the Lake District National Park. It lies between the Whillan Beck, a tributary of the River Esk, and the road from Ravenglass to Windermere, via the Hardknott and Wrynose passes.

History

The station has stood on this site since the mid-1920s, when it was moved from in front of the nearby miners' cottages (now home to employees of the railway). In the days of the 3 ft gauge line, the station was at Boot, but soon after the conversion of the final stretch to 15-inch gauge, it became apparent that the miniature locomotives could not cope with the gradient, and the line was diverted to the current station, which is on the route of a late-Victorian mine branch from the cottages to Gill Force, across the River Esk. The former route to Boot can still be seen and walked.

For about 80 years, the station building was a converted second-hand hut from the weapons testing establishment at Eskmeals near Ravenglass. The current building, utilising its railway embankment site to create a split-level layout with an education/meeting suite below the main café and shop area, was opened on 21 April 2007 by music producer and railway enthusiast Pete Waterman. At the climax of the Cumbria shootings in 2010, passengers had to remain within the station building under armed guard.

Facilities

Today, the station houses the Fellbites Eatery and Scafell Gift Shop (which also acts as a booking office) that are open when the railway are running scheduled passenger trains, where locomotives can be seen detaching from the rolling stock and coupling onto the other end for the return journey to Ravenglass. Scafell Gift Shop has a range of products similar to that of Ravenglass. The station has two platforms with a turntable at the Eastern extremity of the line and a water tank at the Western end of platform 1.

The station grounds also have amenities such as toilets and paid car parking on site, with electric car charging facilities. The village of Boot is a 5-minute walk from the station, and is home to the Eskdale Mill (a restored water mill) as well as two pubs (the Boot Inn and the Brook House Inn).

Accessibility

Wheelchair passengers should reserve a wheelchair space prior to the day of travel, so that the railway can accommodate such passengers.

Gallery

• 
  Train ready to depart station, August 1951
• 
  Train arriving in the platform, July 2006
• 
  The station building, February 2010
• 
  The turntable, May 2006
• 
  The station sign, May 2011

References

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Beckfoot		Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway		Terminus