Windermere | |
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End of the line at Windermere Railway Station.
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Location | |
Place | Windermere |
Local authority | South Lakeland |
Grid reference | SD413986 |
Operations | |
Station code | WDM |
Managed by | Northern |
Number of platforms | 1 |
DfT category | E |
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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Annual rail passenger usage* | |
2011/12 | 0.372 million |
2012/13 | 0.375 million |
2013/14 | 0.401 million |
2014/15 | 0.418 million |
2015/16 | 0.420 million |
History | |
Key dates | Opened 1847 |
Original company | Kendal and Windermere Railway |
Pre-grouping | London and North Western Railway |
Post-grouping | |
20 April 1847 | Opened |
1973 | Reduced to single track |
National Rail – UK railway stations | |
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Windermere from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
Windermere railway station is the railway station that serves Windermere in Cumbria, England. It is just south of the A591, about 25 min walk or a short bus ride from the lake. The station is located behind a branch of the Booths supermarket chain, which occupies the site of the original station building, in front of the Lakeland store. It is the terminus of the former Kendal and Windermere Railway single-track Windermere Branch Line, with a single platform (much longer than the trains usually seen there today) serving one terminal track.
The Terrace, a row of cottages, built for railway executives in 1849, are said to have been designed by the famous architect Augustus Pugin. One of the fireplaces is a copy of one of his in the Palace of Westminster.
The selection of the town of Birthwaite as the location of the station serving the lake was what led to it taking the name Windermere, even though it is not on the water (nowadays it has essentially grown together with Bowness-on-Windermere, which touches the lake).
The station was at one time bigger than at present, with four platforms and an overall roof. Three tracks were taken out of use when the branch was reduced to a one-train operated single line in 1973 as an economy measure. The single track was cut back to a new truncated station in 1986 following the demolition of the trainshed and the building of a supermarket, which incorporates the facade and canopy of the original station. The Booths supermarket has also been designed to mimic the appearance of the original trainshed.