Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 35, 2012

Barnoldswick railway station was the only railway station on the Midland Railway's 1 mile 64 chains long Barnoldswick Branch in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England. The line left the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway at Barnoldswick Junction 55 chains from Earby railway station. The line through the junction was on a 20 chain radius after which it converged to a single track and ran in a straight but undulating line to Barnoldswick. The passenger train that ran back and forth between Barnoldswick and Earby was known locally as the 'Barlick Spud' or 'Spudroaster'. The real reason for the name is lost in time, but the two versions that were commonly recited are that the original branch locomotive was so small it looked like a portable potato roaster used by a local vendor or that the journey time was the same as that taken to roast a potato in the locomotive's firebox.