South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway
The South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR), built a railway line linking the near Bishop Auckland with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (the West Coast Main Line) at Tebay, via Barnard Castle, Stainmore Summit and Kirkby Stephen. The line opened in 1861 and became known as the Stainmore Line.
The Stockton & Darlington absorbed the SD&LUR, and the Stockton & Darlington became a constituent of the North Eastern Railway. The line closed in stages between 1952 and 1962. A short section of the line at Kirkby Stephen East station has been restored by the Stainmore Railway Company.
When the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway (L&CR) was approved in June 1844 there were a number of schemes for a railway over the Pennines. The York & Carlisle Railway proposed a route from the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Northallerton via Richmond, Barnard Castle, the Tees Valley, Stainmore and the Eden Valley to the L&CR at Clifton. A rival scheme, the Yorkshire & Glasgow Union Railway, left the ECML at Thirsk, crossed the Pennines to Hawes, then Kirkby Stephen, Appleby and so reached Clifton. The Leeds and Carlisle left the Leeds Northern Railway near Headingley and passed through Wharfedale to Hawes and the Eden Valley. These schemes came together as the Northern Counties Union Railway, which was given authority in 1846 for a 69 miles (111 km) line from Thirsk to Clifton and a 50 1⁄4 miles (80.9 km) line from Bishop Auckland to Tebay. However, it would have cost £35,000 to pass through the estate of the Duke of Cleveland between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle, and it was a condition of the enabling Act that work on the two lines must be simultaneous. Attempts in 1847 and 1848 to repeal this clause failed and the company failed to raise the necessary finance to start work, its powers lapsed and was wound up.
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