A NEW book about England’s railway heritage is to include a chapter on the history of Carlisle’s station.

Accompanying the words in the book will be aerial pictures of the station taken throughout history.

Published by Historic England, England’s Railway Heritage from the Air, by Peter Waller is on sale now.

An extract from the book reads: “The grand station at Carlisle (known as the ‘Carlisle Citadel’ for much of its history) played host to no fewer than seven pre-Grouping companies.

“It was originally designed for the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway, authorised by an Act of Parliament of 6 June 1844, with the support of the Caledonian Railway, authorised by an Act of Parliament of 31 July 1845.

“However, the latter’s failure to provide funding caused the station’s completion to be delayed, with construction work suspended for a period in the autumn of 1847.

“Initially it was planned that the Newcastle & Carlisle and Maryport & Carlisle railways would also be involved with the project but this did not happen and it was only after the station was completed that these two lines eventually transferred their services to it.

“The site for the station was identified in 1845 and powers for its construction were obtained in 1846. The Lancaster & Carlisle employed William (later Sir William) Tite (1789-1873) to design the building.”

Drawing on images from the Aerofilms collection held by the Historic England Archive, the book displays the changing face of Britain’s railways.

Author, Peter Waller, said: “The aerial views offer a unique perspective on how the railways could dominate the landscape”.

The book is priced at £35 and can be bought via Amazon.