History of the Norramby Branch - Version 2

Originally, what is now the Norramby Branch of the North-West Railway was built as part of the Sodor & Mainland Railway, and was absorbed into the North-West Railway upon its formation in 1914.  In addition to the W&S Railway's main harbour at Brendam, a small-medium harbour at Norramby was also served by the railway.  Starting from 1923, locomotive 87546, a LNER B16 class named Simon, worked this branchline.

In 1935, the branchline was closed down, and Simon reassigned to duties on the mainline.  In 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the line was reopened and the harbour became active once more.  Simon was once again assigned to the branchline.  In February 1944, the harbour was bombed while Simon was in it.  The Luftwaffe effectively shut it down, with several men killed.  Simon went missing in the air raid, presumed destroyed.  After this, the harbour was abandoned.

After the formation of British Rail, joint services were run along the Norramby Branchline in conjunction with BR, as Ballahoo was a dormitory town for Barrow-in-Furness and Crovans Gate.  By 1950, traffic along the branch had dropped to about two or three passenger trains per day, along with a once-daily slow goods.  As a result of this, the branch came close to being closed under the Beeching Cuts of 1965.  Fierce resistance from Sir Charles Topham Hatt resulted in a compromise.  Only the Ballahoo cutoff, running from Ballahoo to Crovans Gate, was closed.  The tunnel along this section of the line was later used by the Ministry of Defence as the pilot site for their 'Strategic Steam Reserve' project, as chronicled in 'Locomotives and Legends'.

Joint NWR and BR services along the line continued until privatisation.  In 1996, the North-West Railway purchased Owen, a class 56 diesel along with Evan & Edwin, twin class 142 railmotors, to look after services along the line.  Around this time, a small industrial park was built just outside Ballahoo and the railway was extended to serve it.

Following the turn of the millenium, Norramby experienced a bit of a renaissance.  An increase in tourism saw some hotels spring up in the previously quiet seaside suburb of South Norramby.  It soon became a tourism capital, with several restaurants and hotels bring built, several built and owned by land magnate Niles Banister.  A marina was also built in the bay, just down from the abandoned old harbour.  In 2002, the railway was extended from the then-current terminus of Norramby.

After the GFC hit, there was a bit of a downturn in the tourist traffic to South Norramby, and a few of the smaller businesses went under.  However, Niles Banister did what he could to help the people of Ballahoo, Norramby and Vicarstown through the troubled times.  In 2010, things began improving.  Recently, Niles Banister's development company bought the old harbour, and has plans to develop it into residential and shopping complexes.