[Source: Alan Young]
Troutbeck Station Gallery 1: September 1950 - c1910 - 1965  Looking east from a passing train at the up platform of Troutbeck in September 1950. The running-in nameboard reads ‘Troutbeck for Ullswater’. A rake of ex-LNER cattle wagons stands in the siding.
Copyright photo by H C Casserley  
1864 1: 2,500 OS map. Although dated 1864, the railway opened in 1865 so the date is clearly not accurate. Buildings are shown on the single platform north (up side) of the track. Two sidings and a crane as well as a siding serving the coal depot with its weigh office are also to the north of the line. A 'Tank House' is shown on the down side at the eastern end of the station
1899 1: 2,500 OS map. There have been significant developments since the 1860s map. A second (down) platform and shelter have been constructed with a signal box beyond its eastern end. A brick & tile works is close to the station served by a siding installed c1867. The footbridge east of ther signal box would have been for staff at the brick and tile works who used the up platform. There is an additional siding north of the coal depot. The station building is shown to include a post office. The Troutbeck Hotel has been constructed north of the station, beyond which is a livestock auction mart. This double-track stretch of the CK&P begins just north-east of the station.. Click here for a larger version.
 The main station building in the early 1950s before British Railways signage was installed. The stationmaster’s house is seen to the rear. The gents’ toilet is seen at the near end of the building.
Photo from Cumbria Railways 
An Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46489 hauls the branch pick-up goods train into Troutbeck station in April 1956. The train comprises 3 x LMS design ventilated vans plus brake van. The position of the lamp on the locomotive’s buffer beam identifies the train is the branch pick-up goods.
Photo from James Lake collection 
A view of Troutbeck goods yard showing that it was at a slightly higher level than the running line – see the roof of the station building. The locomotive is ex-LMS Fowler 4F 0-6-0 No. 44081. In BR days this was an Upperby loco until November 1962, then again from March 1963 until withdrawal in September 1965. Her tender carries the second BR logo introduced in 1956, so this would be the earliest possible year for the photo. The loco has just two trucks attached but where is the brake van? It will be there somewhere, out of sight of the camera. Parked on the left of the shed is a Matisa tamping machine of a type introduced in the late 1940s (one of them is now preserved by the NRM). The presence of the tamper and the detached brake van suggests that some PW work was going on. The cattle dock is immediately right of the tamper with the cattle pens visible to the right of the stone goods shed. Further to the right a ramp is seen on the dock. See one of the other captions for its suggested purpose.
Photo from James Lake collection  5 On 15 July 1961 No.46457 is hauling a down train into Troutbeck station. The Ivatt Class ‘2’ 2-6-0 locomotive was built at Crewe in May 1950 and was withdrawn from 68A, Carlisle Kingmoor shed in May 1967 and cut up by J McWilliams, Shettleston the following October.
Copyright photo Colour Rail 
The Derby Lightweight DMU is one of the original 'West Cumberland' batch. Judging by the paintwork of the Driving Motor, facing the camera, it has recently been through works but has not yet been modified to allow stowage of the multiple unit jumper cables on the cab front. The unit seen here is certainly not brand new as it carries an overhead warning flash and a small yellow warning panel. These West Cumberland sets differed from other Derby Lightweights in a number of ways; the bodies were slightly narrower (achieved by alterations to bodyside fittings) and had barred door droplights due to limited clearances on the Maryport & Carlisle; they had side mounted windscreen wipers; the strengthening bar behind the windscreen was a later modification and later builds had it incorporated into the body framework. Other points of note are the low platforms, apparently clinker surfaced, and the generally neat appearance of the station complete with flower bed(s) and trellis for a climbing plant.
Photo from John Bryant 
Looking east from bridge No.97 (A5091 Matterdale Road) at Troutbeck station c early 1960s. Both tracks are in place and in use prior to the singling of the line in 1968/69. The station building is on the up (left) platform and a timber waiting shelter is provided for down (Keswick-bound) passengers. The far end of the longer down platform, beyond the section where trains call, no longer has its white line. The signal box stands beyond this platform and it will remain in use until 1967. At the near end of the platforms a barrow crossing is provided.
Photo from John Mann collection  Troutbeck station in 1965 looking east along the down platform. At this time the entire line is open to passengers between Penrith and Workington and the section through Troutbeck retains both tracks. Photo by Steve Webb / AEY collection Click here for Troutbeck Station Gallery 2:
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As originally built the station had one platform on the north side of the single-track railway. The single-storey stone building was similar to that at Penruddock and some of the other minor stations on the route. It was provided with a pitched roof; however, at the eastern end the building stepped forward with a half-hipped gable facing east. This section contained the booking office, and its design allowed the stationmaster to have a good view of the platforms – for the same reason that some railway companies provided a bay window for the office. In addition to the office, a general room and a ladies’ waiting room were found in this building. At its western end was a short lower pitched roof and beyond it the gents’ urinal. In 1869 a stationmaster’s two-storey house was under construction, an austere hipped-roof edifice tucked into the rear of the station building; until it was completed the stationmaster lived in rented property.
In November 1912 Mr Walton retired as stationmaster having given ‘long and faithful service’. His successor was J M Cutts, promoted from his post of Foreman Porter at Keswick. It was he who instituted the Sunday school and services in the station premises. During his time at Troutbeck, in January 1923 the station became part of the new London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). He was replaced as stationmaster c1926 by Thompson Simpson who was to be the final holder of this post at Troutbeck; from 1932 the station came under the supervision of the Threlkeld stationmaster. 
From January 1948 Troutbeck became part of British Railways (BR) London Midland Region (LM). The station, along with most of the others on the Workington – Penrith line, 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 become life expired.
Whilst the Keswick to Workington section of the former CK&P closed to all traffic in April 1966 the Penrith-Keswick service continued for several years, but economies were made in operating the remaining branch. Goods had already ceased to be handled at Troutbeck on 1 June 1964, and in late 1966 the signal box closed. On 4 December 1967 the operation of the branch went over to ‘one engine in steam’ – effectively one long siding. The down track through the station was removed and the platform it had served was taken out of use. The waiting shelter (still furnished with a harmonium) remained in place for some years after the abandonment of this platform. Along with the other branch stations, Troutbeck was unstaffed from 1 July 1968. In the mid 1960s an electric lamp was installed at the western end of the building on the up platform, replacing oil lighting.
Amongst several other abandoned railways, in his book A walk along the tracks (1982) Hunter Davies describes his recent exploration of the CK&P. He finds Troutbeck station house owned by a railwayman whose career started at Bassenthwaite Lake and who had the enviable task, immediately after closure in 1972, of visiting all of the CK&P stations and lineside buildings to identify the ‘redundant assets’ – in British Rail parlance – which could be saved or sent to be sold at BR’s Collectors’ Corner near Euston. Troutbeck station house was a redundant asset in which he was already living and he had been successful in buying it from BR Property Board in 1976. Davies also describes Troutbeck station’s signal box (‘the best I’d seen so far’) still complete with its levers, wires and rods.
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