Arnside railway station

Arnside is a railway station on the Furness Line, which runs between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster. The station, situated 12+1/4 mi north-west of Lancaster, serves the village of Arnside in Cumbria. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

A short distance west of the station, the railway crosses the River Kent on an impressive 50-span viaduct that is some 475 m long. The historic structure underwent major repairs and refurbishment, including the complete replacement of the rail deck in 2011. Similar work was carried out on the nearby Leven Estuary viaduct in the spring of 2006.

History
Opened on 1 August 1858 by the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway (a company backed by, and later taken over by the Furness Railway) (FR), the station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail.

A short branch line to Sandside and Hincaster Junction on the West Coast Main Line once diverged from the main line here, which carried a Grange-over-Sands to Kendal local service from its opening in 1876 until 1942. In July 1922, this FR service ran five times per day in each direction on weekdays. The branch was also used by mineral trains from County Durham to the Barrow-in-Furness area, allowing them to avoid having to reverse direction at the busy junction at Carnforth. Local freight traffic continued as far as Sandside until final closure of the line in 1972. The disused platform face and trackbed is still visible behind the southbound platform.

Facilities
Whilst one building remains at the station, it is not in railway use. Shelters are provided for passengers on both platforms, but the only link between them is via a footbridge with stairs (no step-free access). Digital information screens, customer help points, timetable posters and automated announcements provide train running details. As the station is unstaffed, tickets can only be bought from the ticket machine or on the train.

Services
It is served by stopping trains between Lancaster and Barrow, with some continuing to Sellafield or Carlisle via the Cumbrian Coast Line in the northbound direction and by some through services southbound to Preston and Manchester Airport. There is one train per hour in each direction on weekdays, although the varying nature of the stopping patterns of each service means the timetable is irregular. On Sundays there is a train every hour each way (up from a two-hourly frequency since May 2018).