Oxenholme Lake District railway station

Not to be confused with Oxenhope railway station.

Oxenholme The Lake District
Location
Place	Oxenholme
Local authority	South Lakeland
Coordinates	54°18′18″N 2°43′19″W / 54.305°N 2.722°W / 54.305; -2.722Coordinates: 54°18′18″N 2°43′19″W / 54.305°N 2.722°W / 54.305; -2.722
Operations
Station code	OXN
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.260 million
2005/06 *	0.267 million
2006/07 *	0.310 million
2007/08 *	0.333 million
2008/09 *	0.418 million
History
Original company	Lancaster and Carlisle Railway[1]
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
July 1847	Opened as Kendal Junction[1]
c. 1860	Renamed Oxenholme[1]
1988	Renamed Oxenholme The Lake District[1]
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Oxenholme The Lake District from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Oxenholme The Lake District railway station (often shortend to Oxenholme) is a railway station in Oxenholme, near Kendal in Cumbria, England. The station is situated on the West Coast Main Line and is also the start of the Windermere Branch Line to Windermere. The station serves as a main line connection point for Kendal, and is managed by Virgin Trains.^[2] The word "the" is sometimes omitted from the station name.

Oxenholme has the distinction of being the only village station currently served by express trains on the West Coast Main Line, all the other stations on this route serving either towns or cities.

Notable incidents

On February 10, 1965 fugitive John Middleton shot two policemen while hiding in the waiting room. Carlisle policemen George Russell and Alex Archibald were shot with Russell dying in hospital a few hours later.^[3]

On May 27, 2006 the station was the scene of a murder when a 19 year old man was stabbed aboard a Glasgow-Paignton train as it was coming into the station. A 22 year old man was subsequently jailed for 21 years for the murder in November 2006.^[4]

The Grayrigg rail crash happened on 23 February 2007 when a Virgin Pendolino train derailed after it had just left Oxenholme Lake District railway station. The crash left 1 person dead, and 22 others injured.^[5]

Services

Most Virgin Trains services from London and Birmingham to Carlisle and Glasgow or Edinburgh call here to provide connections with the Windermere branch. There is normally a train at least every two hours to London and every hour to Birmingham New Street and to Carlisle (most of these continuing to either Edinburgh or Glasgow). First TransPennine Express services between Manchester Airport and Windermere/Glasgow/Edinburgh also serve the station, although most Windermere services now start/terminate here rather than running through to Preston and Manchester.

In fiction

Oxenholme station appears in the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books by Arthur Ransome as Strickland Junction^[6]

See also

• Oxenholme
• First TransPennine Express
• Virgin trains
• West Coast Main Line

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
2. ^ National Rail Enquiries (2007-12-02). "Station Facilities: Oxenholme Lake District (OXN)". National Rail Enquiries. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/OXN.html. Retrieved 2007-12-02. 
3. ^ Deborah Kuiper (2007-12-28). "Hero PC dies". Hexham Courant. http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/unknown/viewarticle.aspx?id=581182. Retrieved 2008-03-15. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Guardian Unlimited (2006-10-11). "Life sentence for train murder of student". Guardian News and Media Limited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1945124,00.html. Retrieved 2007-12-02. 
5. ^ BBC News (2007-02-24). "How Cumbria rail crash unfolded". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6393023.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-02. 
6. ^ Christina Hardyment Arthur Ransome and Capt. Flint's Trunk, Jonathan Cape 1984

External links

• Train times and station information for Oxenholme Lake District railway station from National Rail
• Buses from the station
• Buses to the station

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Lancaster		First TransPennine Express TransPennine North West		Kendal
				Penrith
		Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line		Penrith