West Cumberland

The West Cumberland scheme was introduced in three stages, as units were available.

The first was the Carlisle to Silloth service on 29th Nov 54. There were little alterations to existing timings.

The second stage was the takeover of the Workington, Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith line on the 3rd Jan '55. The pattern of the service remained basically the same, with six trains daily each way, but there were considerably accelerated timings over steam workings. The 46 ½ miles from Penrith to Workington was achieved in 80-86 mins, as opposed to the previous 97-121 mins. While there were no additional services, they were more evenly spaced, and all but one had the previous lengthy wait at Keswick eliminated. The 07:05 and 12:22 from Workington worked through to Carlisle, and the 09:40 from Carlisle worked through as the 10:20 from Penrith to Workington, giving Keswick a much wanted through service to Carlisle.

The final stage was the Carlisle - Maryport - Workington - Whitehaven section which began on the 7th Feb 55. Steam timings from Carlisle had been 05:40, 06:50, 08:25, 11:07, 13:25, 16:20, 17:06, 18:15, 19:50 and 21:05. These were replaced by an even interval service at 25 min past the hour from 08:25 till 16:25, and then at 17:15, 18:15, 19:50, 20:30 and 21:25. The 05:40 and 06:50 departures remained as before, most likely to fit in with factory starting times etc. Saturdays had additional trains at 13:00 and 21:10, and the 13:25 was replaced by a 13:50 departure.

This increased the services from 10 to 16, and 12 to 18 on Saturdays. The services stopped at Dalston, Wigton, Aspatria, Bullgill, Maryport, Flimby, Workington, Harrington and Parton. Timings for the 27 ¾ miles to Maryport was 42 mins (previously 47-50 mins), the 33 ¼ miles to Workington in 54 (62-65 mins), and the 40 miles to Whitehaven in 74 mins (86-92 mins). All the services kept these timings except the 05:40, 06:50 and 21:25 which were given extra time for handling parcels, although most of this work was done by two steam hauled parcels trains.

From Whitehaven services were hourly from 06:55 to 14:55 and then at 16:15, 17:15, 18:15, 18:45, 19:55 and 21:55. Journey times were the same in this direction. the turnaround times at both ends was 16 mins, allowing a set to do up to 5 return journeys a day, a total of 400 miles.

The diesels made it necessary to introduce a service of parcels trains between Carlisle and Whitehaven, and the two trains were run daily in each direction comprised mainly of LNER six-wheeled parcels vans.

The Sunday service was a vast improvement, with nine services instead of the original two at 06:45 and 16:00 from Carlisle and 11:00 and 18:30 return. The DMU times were well spaced out, and as Dalston, Bullgill, Flimby, Harrington and Parton were all closed on a Sunday, the journey only took 66-67 mins.

The summer 1955 timetable provided for three additional trains from Penrith to Workington and two in the opposite direction compared to summer 1954, and also an additional Carlisle - Keswick on Weds & Sats.

West Cumberland Success

By the 19th February 1955, despite only starting with eight of the thirteen sets required for the full service, there had been 8,000 additional passengers carried in West Cumberland, and by April takings were up 40%.

Between the start of the Carlisle and Whitehaven service in February 1955 and the end of April 1955, 91,600 passengers were carried compared to 59,000 in the corresponding period in 1954. The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith line saw an increase of 8,300 to 18,500, and between Carlisle and Silloth had an increase from 24,400 to 28,900.

Maintenance Maintenance work was carried out at Upperby steam loco & carriage sheds, although part of the shed at Workington MPD (right) was converted for this use, undertaking major repairs and examination of all sets, although only three were initially allocated there, alongside 23 steam locos. Engine pits were provided with fluorescent lighting, new office accommodation was built and a new roof put on the shed. Facilities for steam engines were also enhanced at the same time. These requirements for the new units at Workington and other places were criticised as being costly in relation to the relatively few units concerned, and raised doubts over staffing issues.