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Morecambe Branch Line

Principal stations (West Coast Main Line) Lancaster Bare Lane Morecambe (reverse) Heysham Port

The Morecambe Branch Line is a railway line from Lancaster to Morecambe and Heysham where services connect with the ferry service to Douglas on the Isle of Man. To reach Heysham, trains must reverse at Morecambe.

Almost all passenger services are currently operated by Northern Rail. Most services operate as a shuttle between Lancaster and Morecambe, continuing to Heysham only to connect with ferry services. These services primarily use Class 142 or Class 153 diesel multiple units . A few services continue beyond Lancaster to Skipton and Leeds, and generally use Class 150 or Class 156 units. The last train each weekday evening is a Transpennine Express service from Manchester Airport, which diverts from its usual route to Barrow-in-Furness. This service calls at Lancaster, Bare Lane and Morecambe, before reversing, calling at Bare Lane again, then rejoining the West Coast Main Line and continuing via Carnforth.

The line also sees freight traffic, operated by Direct Rail Services, which serve the nuclear power station at Heysham.

Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

That part of the line between Morecambe and Heysham is an isolated remnant of ex-Midland Railway in what was essentially LNWR territory. The original Midland route ran from Heysham and Morecambe to Wennington and served Lancaster Green Ayre station (Conolly, 1967). This piece of railway closed to passengers in 1966 leaving only the LNWR route between Morecambe and Hest Bank (Bairstow, 2000)

The Midland Railway part of the branch was used for an early trial of electrification - opened between 13 April 1908 and 14 September 1908 using 6600 V AC at 25 Hz. Following rail nationalisation it was again used, in 1953, as a trial site for electrification at 50 Hz, the voltage remaining at 6600. This experiment led to the introduction of the 25 kV, 50 Hz system as standard for new electrification on British Railways. The line lost its electrification in 1966.

• MR electric units
• British Rail Class AM1

• Bairstow, M. (2000) The 'Little' North Western Railway, Martin Bairstow Publ., ISBN 1-871944-21-X
• Conolly, W.P. (1967) Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazeteer, Fifth Ed. Repr. 1997, Ian Allen, ISBN 0-7110-0320-3

• Alan's page about the line

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