Welcome to the Cumbrian Railways Association website
The Cumbrian Railways Association was formed in 1976 in order to foster a widening interest in the fascinating history of the railways of Cumbria. Cumbria has enjoyed a remarkably diverse railway history. Starting with locally promoted lines such as those from Carlisle to Newcastle and Maryport in the 1830s and 40s, these were soon linked into the first of the great trunk lines through the area, the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and its northern partner, the Caledonian Railway. Local lines proliferated round the coast serving the burgeoning coal and iron industries of West Cumberland and Furness, with the Furness Railway eventually dominating the scene in the south and west - and performing a vital role in the development of its home town, Barrow-in-Furness. Across the county ran the links from the Durham coal fields to West Cumberland and along the Pennines came the Settle & Carlisle line of the Midland Railway.
20 July 2010 - Due to another booking we are having to hold our November 2010 meeting one week earlier than normal. See meetings page for further details. Meetings & Events
NEW !! Details of our Autumn day out for members. Checkout the Meetings & Events page
Furness Railway Station Seat kits. Available only from the Association are both 4 mm and 7 mm etched brass model seat kits. (17.07.10) Larger scales may be available to special order. Go to the Modelling pages for full details. Latest News CRA Photograph Library
Modellers should also visit the Resources and Services section for information and drawings.
Membership
Click here for further information and to download an application form.
eMail Chat Group
We also run an email chat group which is open to members and non-members.
Click here for further information and to join
New Publication: The Ulverstone & Lancaster Railway 
The Association has a very extensive photographic library extending to around 40,000 images, and including railways in other parts of the UK (and parts of Europe) and shipping. A very substantial proportion of these have been or are being digitised and a growing selection being mounted on our separate Photo Library website.
More information about the CRA's resources in terms of photographs and archives may be found on the Resources and Services section of this site.
New collections on CRA photo website
New collections of images of railways of Cumbria are regularly added to our website at http://cra.photos.gb.net/
Visit the site also to challenge your knowledge of the Cumbrian railway scene of the past by trying to identify the collections of mystery photos !
Further collection of Cumbrian railway images may also be found on the photo website of our President, Peter Robinson at http://oversands.fotopic.net/
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