Kirkby Stephen East railway station
Kirkby Stephen East railway station was situated on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway between Barnard Castle and Tebay. It served the town of Kirkby Stephen in England. The station opened to passenger traffic on 8 August 1861, and closed on 22 January 1962.
The station had an extensive goods yard which is now occupied by a Caravan Park. Also on the site was a engine shed, carriage shed and turntable. The station had a number of various excursions passing through it during its heyday. Starting in 1932, the two expresses to Blackpool, one from Newcastle and the other from Darlington both stopped at KSE for about five minutes, before setting off towards Blackpool. The return trip also passed through later in the day. Also, the station paid service to the Durham Miners special between 1932 - 1936. Following the closure of the station in 1962, it was converted into a Bobbin Mill. The Bobbin Factory closed in 1992. Until 1997, the station was uninhabited.
In 1997 a company called Stainmore Properties Ltd. was formed, with the intention to convert KSE into a heritage centre representing the early 1950s. In the year 2000, another company, Stainmore Railway Company was formed to help with the restoration of the site. Since then essential repairs have been made to the roof and station, a number of rooms have been restored and a short section of track had been laid. (Whilst writing this, the SRC were in the process of extending further.) August 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the railway, and to commemorate this a number of events have been planned. The aim is to have a passenger service up and running by this deadline.
