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Resources and Services
Here’s an overview of the various documentary and other resources the Society has available to assist those interested in the railways of Cumbria, the surrounding area, and the trains that passed through.
Drawings and Documents
CRA has an extensive and ever-expanding collection of documents, drawings and plans. These are made available in a variety of ways to support Members.
A selection from the CRA’s collection chosen to assist modellers and other researchers has been digitised and is available to download. Paper copies of documents can be arranged through our Archivist.
Photograph Collections
The Association has a wide-ranging photographic archive now extending to over 60,000 images, and again being constantly expanded.
The images themselves date from the mid-19th century right up to the present day and cover every facet of the railways of Cumbria. Geographically they cover the whole CRA area, with around 15% being taken outside that area.
If you have specific requirements please email our Photo Officer
Genealogy
Family History – did a member of your family work on the railway?
With the increasing numbers of family history researchers, the Cumbrian Railways Association is developing a database of references to railway staff compiled from various sources. The database covers the mid-19th.century, and is updated whenever possible.
Books
The Cumbrian Railways Association is proud of its history as a publisher of works on the railways of Cumbria. This dates back to its first book, The Coniston Railway, published in 1985 (and subsequently revised and greatly extended in 2005). These works cover all aspects of the history of Cumbria’s railways: branch lines, community and their railways, locomotives, railwaymen serving in the Great War and most recently photographic albums from the Association’s historic photograph collections.
Railway Structures Map
An interactive map of railway bridges and viaducts in Cumbria and its surroundings. It uses data from Network Rail and the Historical Railways Estate, overlayed on a historical map from the National Library of Scotland. Some demolished bridges have been added using information from archive documents in the CRA’s collection.
Public Archive Collections
The CRA’s physical archive collection is deposited at Kendal Archive Centre, County Offices, Kendal, LA9 4RQ. We’ve assembled details of other railway archives in Cumbria, and other archives nationally that may help the railway history researcher