The Cockermouth, Keswick, and Penrith Railway was built as a mineral line between 1862 and 1864, to link Workington in the west, to Durham in the east, connecting at Penrith to the direct railway route through the Pennines over Stainmore from the Darlington area. and to the West Coast Main Line from London to Glasgow.The little Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway was initiated to establish a vital link in the railway chain which connected the two great iron producing areas of West Cumberland and Durham. To many, it was a humble and almost unknown railway, not possessing any locomotives of its own, or any rolling stock either - apart from a few ballast wagons. Two great pre-grouping railways, the London and North Western and the North Eastern, worked the line, and from 1889 onwards two directors from each Company sat on the C.K. & P. Board.
The CKPR
