[Source: Alan Young]
Bassenthwaite Lake Station Gallery 1: July 1907 - August 1951  Bassenthwaite Lake station looking south-east from the up platform sometime before July 1907. This angle provides limited information about the station, but the unusual serif print on the CK&P running-in nameboard and the lanterns, still lit by oil prior to the adoption of acetylene gas, are of interest. The locomotive hauling a westbound passenger train is a Class 2F 0-6-0 Webb-designed ‘Cauliflower’ in original condition. This class of locomotive was originally known as the ’18-inch Goods’ and introduced in the 1880s. Although intended for hauling goods they were frequently employed on passenger train duties, as here. The last few of the class lasted until 1955, well into British Railways days. The five vehicles are all in LNWR white and plum livery. The leading one is a Centre Brake apparently with passenger accommodation, almost certainly a six-wheeler. The next three vehicles are four-compartment four-wheelers. The fifth is another brake.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection  
1864 1: 2,500 OS map, The recently-opened Bassenthwaite Lake station is named here as ‘Peelwyke’. This is a rare example of misinformation on an Ordnance Survey map, as the official name was Bassenthwaite Lake from the station’s opening. Peelwyke (or Piel Wyke) is a hamlet a short distance south of the station, and although CK&P minutes do refer to the station site by this name prior to opening, the decision had been made in 1864 to call it Bassenthwaite Lake. The lake shore is close to the station – the unshaded area to the north-east. A double-track railway is shown passing through the station, singling just before the level crossing. The two platforms are implied by fine lines indicating their back walls. South of the rails, the stationmaster’s house is shown close to the level crossing with the station building to the south-east. The waiting shelter is shown on the up (north-east) platform. The goods yard consists of two sidings, trailing from the up line, each with a short spur; there is a short spur trailing off the down line immediately east of the platform, which is no longer shown on the 1900 map.
1900 1: 2,500 OS map. Bassenthwaite Lake station is now named correctly. The station building is identified as a Post Office, and railwaymen’s cottages have been constructed nearby. The signal box (SB) has been added adjacent to the level crossing at the north-west end of the up platform. The goods yard has been extended, with five sidings behind the up platform. The fourth siding serves the coal depot, and adjacent to it is the weigh office (‘W.M.’ = weighing machine). A small shed (unshaded and no siding enters it) is immediately north-east of the coal depot. A fifth siding runs on the north side of this building.
 1925 1: 2,500 OS map. The double track through the station now extends just beyond the level crossing. The station building has been extended to accommodate the Post Office. A short headshunt is shown close to the entrance to the goods yard and a crane has been added within the yard. The tiny unnamed building shown south-east of the (still unshaded) goods shed is the ‘gas house’ where acetylene gas for the station lighting is generated; the siding to the north of this building has been removed.
This tinted photo shows Bassenthwaite Lake station circa 1910, looking north-west from the up platform. The single-storey stone structure on the down platform is the station building which, although similar to those at Embleton and some of the other CK&P stations has the distinction of a gable above the office (far end of the building) and elaborate bargeboards; these refinements were possibly to reflect the especially scenic location. A gents’ toilet is attached at the near end. The stationmaster’s two-storey house is beyond the platform ramp and adjacent to the level crossing. It, too, is stone built and the half-hipped roof shows a family resemblance to structures at other minor stations on the line. On the up platform the only building is a modest timber pent-roofed shelter, enclosed and provided with fireplaces and chimneys installed. The signal box is the original Saxby design which would be replaced in 1911 with a CK&P box.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection 
Looking south-east from the level crossing at Bassenthwaite Lake station, probably in the 1930s. In the foreground is the masonry of the stationmaster’s house. Beyond the barrow crossing are the platform ramps. The sole building on the up platform is an enclosed shelter of timber. The running-in nameboard is probably an LMS fixture. The garden on the platform is well maintained: a feature for which the stations on this route were renowned. A goods train is disappearing in the direction of Keswick, including a number of open wagons, one van and a brake van.
Photo from John Mann collection  
The distinguished and prolific railway photographer H C Casserley visited the CK&P in June 1947 and snatched this view of the down platform of Bassenthwaite Lake station from a Keswick-bound train. The nearest buildings are railway staff cottages, and beyond are the single-storey station building and the stationmaster’s two-storey house. The elaborate bargeboards on the station building, seen on an earlier photograph, have given way to plain ones. The nameboard is probably an early LMS design and the lanterns are operated with acetylene gas.
Photo by H C Casserley  An ex-LNWR Cauliflowers stands at the down platform at Bassenthwaite Lake station in 1948. No. 28559; this was one of the dwindling number of the type to survive into BR days and of those it was one of the few to carry a BR number. As BR No. 58415 it survived until November 1953.
Photo from James Lake collection 
LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46449, hauls the Saturday 10.15 am Manchester Victoria to Workington service out of Bassenthwaite Lake station in August 1951,
Photo by Ben Brooksbank Click here for Bassenthwaite Lake Station Gallery 2:
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Notes: The first official CK&P reference to a station near the northern end of Bassenthwaite Lake was in 1861 to be at the most convenient position where the railway passed Smithy Green. At a Works Committee meeting on 10 November 1862 it was decided that the site of the station and mineral depot would be on the north side of the line with a siding for timber on the south side, and that a level crossing, rather than bridge, should be provided for the line to cross the turnpike road if the trustees were content. In November 1863 the CK&P Works Committee opened tenders which had been invited for the construction of stationmasters’ houses, and this included a house at ‘Piel Wyke’ station; the earliest OS maps indicate that this was the name of a hamlet about ¼-mile south of the station. On 2 December 1863 the contract was awarded to Bolton & Graham to construct Piel Wyke stationmaster’s house for £333. A Board meeting on 4 May 1864 decided on names for the stations, and this one was to be known as Bassenthwaite Lake. It seems that the Ordnance Survey was not informed that the station was to be called Bassenthwaite Lake as it was named Peelwyke on the 1:2,500 map published close to the date of opening of the line and station in 1865. In later OS maps the hamlet was no longer named, only the Pheasant Inn within it. By the end of the century the maps showed the correct name of the station. Local people usually shortened the name to ‘Bass Lake’.
In 1910 the booking office section was extended south-westwards to provide space for a Post Office; the style of the extension was sympathetic to the existing building, of stone construction under a gabled slate roof. Later, the attractive bargeboards were replaced with plain ones and the cresting was removed. To the east of this building a pair of two-storey cottages under a half-hipped roof was erected sometime after the station opened to accommodate the two signalmen and their families; the cottages were of stone construction but were rendered, presumably at a later date. The handsome two-storey stone station house, also with half-hipped roof, stood to the west, close to the level crossing. By contrast the only structure on the up platform was an undistinguished pent-roofed timber shed with chimneystacks at each end serving the fireplaces in the waiting and porters’ rooms. In 1874 a signal box of brick and timber construction, under a hipped roof, opened west of the up platform, adjacent to the level crossing.
It seems that from February 1910 the stationmaster took on the additional responsibility of Sub-Postmaster, although the 1900 OS map already identifies a Post Office in the building. As noted above, the station building was extended to accommodate this new function. The stationmaster from 1908-10 was John Blackburn and J W Ewart took on this role (as well as that of Sub-Postmaster) from 1910 until 1921.
In January 1923 the station became part of the new London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). At this time the stationmaster was Joseph Todhunter, who had been appointed in 1921. He held the post until 1933, and his successors were a Mr Grimley and Sam Whelan. The station changed little in LMS days, but it is thought that new nameboards were installed in this era. Camping coaches made their appearance, offering inexpensive accommodation for holidaymakers (who arrived and departed by train). Before 1939 the coaches were delivered to the station in spring and were removed for maintenance and storage in the winter. While they were in place at the station the siding upon which they stood was disconnected. 
In January 1948 at nationalisation Bassenthwaite Lake station became part of the new British Railways (BR) London Midland Region (LM). Some rationalisation of the goods yard took place in 1951 when two of the sidings were removed. The former CK&P saw the introduction of diesel multiple units in early January 1955 which gradually replaced steam-hauled passenger trains. In the summer 1956 timetable (below) Sunday trains were introduced; they did not serve all intermediate stations but did call at Bassenthwaite Lake.
In BR ownership Bassenthwaite Lake station continued to be staffed and photographs indicate that it remained well cared for and the tradition of maintaining an attractive garden continued. Camping coaches provided accommodation at the station into the 1960s. Along with most stations on the Workington – Penrith line, Bassenthwaite Lake was fitted with BR(LM) maroon vitreous enamel nameboards and totem lamp tablets, probably in the late 1950s. Although the station had been gas-lit the lanterns in use by the late 1950s/early 1960s held oil lamps as the gas equipment had worn out. 
A proposal to withdraw all passenger services was published on 5 July 1963 and followed the usual TUCC procedure. In late December 1966 Barbara Castle became Minister of Transport and one of her early decisions, announced on 10 January 1966, was that the route should be closed between Workington and Keswick but the remainder of the line to Penrith should be retained in view of the hardship which would be suffered by users of that section of the route. It seems ironic that Mrs Castle, herself at one time a keen rambler, should have refused closure of some Hope Valley (Derbyshire) stations so that ramblers could use them, whilst approving the closure of Bassenthwaite Lake and Braithwaite stations and the exceptionally scenic stretch of railway between them. The last trains ran between Workington and Keswick on 16 April 1966 and on 18 April Bassenthwaite Lake station closed. Below is the final list of train departures.
They visited a specialist haulage yard in Stoke-on -Trent where there was a suitable carriage for sale. Sitting next to it was a steam locomotive, and for the Parums, it was an opportunity not to be missed. It was a full-scale replica of a world-famous locomotive used in the 2017 Hollywood adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express starring Johnny Depp and Dame Judy Dench. The replica was built in 12 weeks at Longcross Studios in Surrey by a dedicated team of engineers.
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