Train ride to . . .

. . . nowhere!

A few years ago we followed the route of the Eden Valley Railway, which was closed in 1962. We started from Appleby's 'other station' - Appleby East  and worked our way towards Clifton, near Penrith, locating the stations and bridges etc. Today we called in at the station before Appleby - Warcop. Well, there is no longer a station as such, but trains still run from here, especially on a Sunday.

The problem is that they go nowhere - the trains go for a few miles and then stop and then they return to Warcop. The railway is run by a charitable trust and manned by volunteers. The line has been gradually extended from Warcop towards Appleby and has only a few miles to go until it reaches Appleby. There are some problems though with extending the line further, which is very frustrating for all concerned. 

It's a scenic little journey anyway and today at 3pm there were only five of us on the train. The Station Master (see extra), the guard and the driver were very friendly and keen to chat and tell us all about what they were doing. 

I don't know why we have not made it here before, it's so close by. But we'll be back, especially as I've discovered they have a carriage packed full of second-hand books, mainly about railways (a few books were bought!).