NY0203 : Sellafield Station sign
taken 15 years ago, 3 km from Seascale, Cumbria, England
This railway follows the West Cumbria Coast from Barrow to Carlisle. First opened in 1844 and completed in 1866.
Sellafield railway station serves the nuclear facility of Sellafield. The railway station is a stop on the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line. Some through trains to the Furness Line stop here. It is operated by Northern Rail who provide all passenger train services.
The station (which dates from 1850) is a busy freight location, as much of the nuclear waste for Sellafield's Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant is carried by train here from the docks in Barrow-in-Furness or from rail-connected nuclear power stations elsewhere in the UK.
The station marks the end of the single line section from Whitehaven, which is operated using the electric key token system. From here the line southwards towards Ravenglass and Barrow is double track (apart from the short section between Park South Junction (south of Askam) and Barrow, which is also single).
The station was also the southern terminus of the former Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway line from Egremont from August 1869 until closure in March 1964.