Stainmore Railway Company (Kirkby Stephen East)

There's a footpath and missing viaduct to deal with before you get to Belah...

What struck me when visiting a few years ago is how KSE comes across as very large in what's written, yet is actually surprisingly modest when seen in the flesh. That speaks to me of how this was, at heart, primarily a mineral railway which happened to carry passengers.

 

Indeed it was originally built as a mineral railway and that was the driving purpose for the lines working life, specifically transiting ironstone between teeside and the Cumbrian coast, the trackbed is owned by the group up to around bridge 3, the stated intention is to join up with the Eden valley railway at warcop, which is the most viable option but still difficult, the trackbed splits not far after the end of the line with one going to tebay and the other to musgrave station then to Eden valley metals before warcop, there are two viaducts between the two heritage lines, the first one you reach is scandal beck, which is still there, the musgrave viaduct was demolished in 1985, luckily it wasn’t stone like most viaducts on the line but two steel decks with a plinth in between, there are one or two arable fields that have swallowed the alignment as well as sections with agricultural sheds built on the trackbed, not forgetting musgrave station which is a private house but still extant, this sounds like a lot to overcome, (and it is), but two heritage lines collaborating from both ends could achieve wonders, it would also give access to the settle line. As already mentioned t’s stainmore rail co’s stated intention to do this, of course the main goal is restoration of KSE’s station environs (except the goods yard , engine shed and everything past the road bridge, which is a caravan park) back to its condition pre 1962, including the signal boxes, maybe also the tebay platform shed, once this is done then attention can go elsewhere if the momentum is still with them that has served them well so far, I think this is still the goal eventually, the outrage the group had to highways England madly filling musgrave road bridge in with tonnes of concrete thus blocking the trackbed demonstrates that. Their persistence paid off, it was reversed. (I think we need a whole thread about Highways Englands madness, they’re still at it eg, Queensbury tunnel, but thats by the by)

so that’s where things are with that, now at what point does a building become a signal box? For me it’s probably when this happens:

they’re getting there!