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Bare Lane railway station

Coordinates: 54°04′29″N 2°50′06″W / 54.0746566°N 2.8349663°W / 54.0746566; -2.8349663
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Bare Lane
National Rail
General information
LocationBare, City of Lancaster
England
Coordinates54°04′29″N 2°50′06″W / 54.0746566°N 2.8349663°W / 54.0746566; -2.8349663
Grid referenceSD454646
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms2
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeBAR
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyLondon and North Western Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
British Rail (London Midland Region)
Key dates
8 August 1864Opened as Skerton
31 October 1864Renamed Bare Lane
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.138 million
2019/20Decrease 0.137 million
2020/21Decrease 50,502
2021/22Increase 91,640
2022/23Increase 0.113 million
Location
Bare Lane is located in the City of Lancaster district
Bare Lane
Bare Lane
Bare Lane is located in Lancashire
Bare Lane
Bare Lane
Location in Lancashire, England
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Bare Lane is a railway station on the Morecambe Branch Line, which runs between Lancaster and Heysham Port. The station, situated 2+12 miles (4 km) west of Lancaster, serves the suburb of Bare in Morecambe, Lancashire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

History

[edit]
The station, as photographed in September 1962

The station was opened as Poulton-le-Sands on 8 August 1864 by the London and North Western Railway; it was renamed Bare Lane on 31 October 1864.[1]

A level crossing with the public highway, known as Bare Lane, exists immediately to the west of the station; until recently, it was controlled by the adjacent Bare Lane signal box, a fringe cabin to the Preston PSB Area. This box was closed on 8 December 2012, when the signalling equipment was renewed by Network Rail and control of the crossing switched to CCTV and transferred to Preston power box.[2]

The old station building on the platform is now a private dwelling. It was auctioned to the public and was featured on the BBC programme Homes Under the Hammer, a show about buildings which are auctioned to the public and redeveloped.

Layout

[edit]

Although the station has two side platforms, the track layout through it is not the conventional double track used on most main & secondary routes, but two independent bi-directional single lines. Platform 1 serves the Up & Down Morecambe line (which is in effect a long siding all the way to the terminus), whilst platform 2 handles trains on what is now the Up & Down Heysham line. The latter is connected to the now-single track branch down to Heysham Port at Holt Bank Junction (just outside Morecambe station), with the junction points operated from a ground frame worked by the train crew. The two lines converge east of the station, but then immediately split into the single line curves toward Hest Bank and towards Lancaster; the former sees only limited use, whereas the latter was double track until 1988 and is used by the vast majority of trains on the route.

This layout dates from the closure of the former terminus at Morecambe Promenade and its associated signal box in February 1994, with Bare Lane signal box taking over control of all signalling on the line thereafter (other than that controlling the junctions with the main line at Hest Bank). As mentioned above however, it was closed in December 2012. The structure remained intact for another year and had been used for several months by Northern personnel as a staffed help point for travellers due to the absence of digital passenger information screens at the station. It was eventually demolished in January 2014 after the PIS screens were installed and finally brought into use.[citation needed]

The station is unstaffed and had no ticket facilities of any kind until recently - Northern has now installed a ticket vending machine as part of a programme of station improvements in the area. Waiting shelters are provided and both platforms have step-free access.[3]

Services

[edit]
Northern Trains
Route 7
Settle & Carlisle
& Bentham lines
Carlisle
Armathwaite
Lazonby & Kirkoswald
Langwathby
Appleby
Kirkby Stephen
Garsdale
Dent
Ribblehead
Horton-in-Ribblesdale
Settle
Heysham Port
ferry/water interchange
Morecambe
Bare Lane
Lancaster
Carnforth
Wennington
Bentham
Clapham
Giggleswick
Long Preston
Hellifield
Gargrave
Skipton
Keighley
Bingley
Shipley
Leeds
Morecambe, Lancaster
and Heysham Port
Bare Lane
Lancaster
Morecambe
ferry/water interchange Heysham Port

The station is served by Northern Trains local services, which operate as a regular (hourly with some peak extras) Lancaster-Morecambe shuttle.[4] One return service throughout the week is extended to and from Heysham Port to meet the daily ferry to the Isle of Man.

There are also a few longer-distance services (currently five per day Mon-Sat and on Sundays also since December 2019) from Morecambe to Skipton and Leeds via the Leeds to Morecambe Line.[5] In addition, for many years the last train each weekday evening was a First TransPennine Express service from Windermere, which diverted from its route to Barrow-in-Furness. This service called at Lancaster, Bare Lane and Morecambe, before reversing, calling at Bare Lane again, then rejoining the West Coast Main Line and continuing via Carnforth thus avoiding the 1m 7ch section of the WCML between Hest Bank South Junction and Hest Bank North Junction. This was the only scheduled service to use the original 1864 curve towards Hest Bank and as such functioned as a Parliamentary train to avoid the need for formal closure proceedings for this short stretch of line. In the present (May 2023) timetable, just one early a.m Lancaster to Morecambe via Carnforth train takes this route to meet the TOC's franchise obligations.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  2. ^ "NR Bare Lane box closure proposals & TOC responses". Network Rail. Retrieved 26 May 2011.[dead link]
  3. ^ "Bare Lane station facilities". National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b GB National Rail Timetable May 2023, Table 106
  5. ^ Table 35 National Rail timetable, May 2023
[edit]
Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Carnforth   Northern Trains
Morecambe Branch Line
  Morecambe
Lancaster    
  Historical railways  
Lancaster Castle   London and North Western Railway
Morecambe Branch Line
  Morecambe Euston Road
Hest Bank     Morecambe Promenade