Camerton Colliery Halt railway station was an unadvertised halt for workers at one or both of the collieries at Camerton, near Cockermouth in Cumberland (now in Cumbria), England.
Location
The halt is listed in the 1904 Railway Clearing House Handbook of Stations as "Camerton Colliery". It appears in three authoritative works but does not appear in Jowett's railway atlas, nor can it be identified on any Ordnance Survey Map, although both collieries and their connections to Camerton's railways are clearly visible on maps.
Camerton No. 1 colliery was situated in the valley bottom, north of the river, east of the Cockermouth and Workington Railway station and near that company's line to Cockermouth, to which it was connected. It appears to have closed in the early 1930s.
Camerton No. 2 colliery was situated to the north west of the village, on higher ground above the valley next to the road to Seaton, almost 1 km from No. 1 Colliery by foot. In February 1890 it was connected to the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway's (C&WJR) "Northern Extension" which ran between Workington Central and Linefoot via Seaton (Cumbria). The specialist work on the line and the specialist work on unadvertised stations agree that the C&WJR provided the halt. The map reference is given as NY037313, which is where Flimby Road crosses that company's line, some 650 metres east of No. 2 Pit, but slightly nearer No. 1 Pit.
Opening and closure
The halt opened on 24 March 1887, but its closure is acknowledged as unclear. As it was never publicly advertised, standard works such as Bradshaw's Guide are silent. The C&WJR's 1920 Working Time Table makes no mention of the colliery or the halt. What appears to be the only online mention of Camerton's collieries suggests that Camerton No. 2 was abandoned in 1911, which would explain its absence from the Working Time Table or Ordnance Survey maps from the 1930s. The halt is recorded as having closed by October 1923.
Services
The halt was an unadvertised workmen's halt, not listed in public timetables. Access to a C&WJR Working Time Table for any date between 1890 and 1910 would give clear evidence of the halt's location and services.
History
The halt was located on the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway's "Northern Extension", a 6 miles 30 chains (10.3 km) line built on high ground past Camerton to Linefoot. The C&WJR was built in the late 1870s as a result of the rapid industrialisation of West Cumberland in the second half of the nineteenth century. All lines in the area were primarily aimed at mineral traffic, notably iron ore, coal and limestone. The C&WJR earned the local name "The Track of the Ironmasters".
The Northern Extension became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at the Grouping of 1923. The line north of Buckhill was closed in 1921 and subsequently lifted. After the closure of the C&WJR south of Workington Central in 1965, all trains past the site of the halt to the armaments depot travelled south from Siddick Junction past Calva Junction, where they reversed towards Seaton.
Afterlife
By 2013, the trackbed through the site of the halt was a public off-road trail.
