John Foster - Station Master

When we bought the house we were interested to know more of the history and were told that The Cumberland News had given considerable coverage to the closure of the station. We were unable to trace this in the archives, but my husband's request for information was printed in the paper. As a result of this we had two visitors.

Mr Burn had started work at the station in 1924 as a lad porter. The Station Master was Mr Matthew Bright, 1920-25 when he moved to Wetheral Station. The previous Station Master was Mr Joseph Foster 1882-1920. *

There were 6 houses in Railway Terace - the terrace of white houses (3-15 Park Road). The two larger ones, the pair at the railway end of the terrace, were the homes of ticket collectors, Mr Irwin and Mr Cummings. The other houses were those of Mr J Bowen Signalman, Mr Andrew Gibson - Ganger, Mr Nattrass - Signalman and Mr Corne Sub Ganger. Mr Burns lodged at Lilac Squarewhich then was a courtyard of houses, mainly the homes of people who worked in the tannery.

The full compliment of station staff was 1 Station Master, 2 Ticket Collectors, 2 Signalmen, 2 Lad Porters, 4 Platelayers.

The railway cottages

The station drive was the length of our garden and sloped upwardsso that trucks from the tannery could tip their contents into railway wagons in a bay adjacent to the highest point of the garden. The Station Master's garden stretched from the side of the house on a level to include the drying area (near the boundary with the paddock) used by the present people who live in the terrace. The Station Masters must have been very good gardeners, the soil is very good.

There was a coal depot near to the railway bridge , a signal box in the area near the large gate onto railway property and a bridge over the railway which on this side started near our front door. There are still remains of this to be seen.

View of tannery and railway from the bottom of Park Road

Mrs Story is the great niece of the Station Master in the photograph, so it must be Mr Foster. Her anecdotes were her mother's memories of coming to stay in the house as a girl.

Children coming home from school would run to stand on the bridge and wait for a steam train to pass underneath and cover them in smoke. The Station Master made lead soldiers which he sold from the porch. He was also a church warden at the village church and spent all Sunday working for the church, having worked Mon-Sat lunchtime for the railway company.

The Station Master's daughter was expected to put on a clean pinafore in the morning and accompany her father onto the platform and curtsey to the wealthy travellers. When her mother entertained friends in the living room the Station Master's daughter was given a duster to dust the barleysugar legs of the sideboard in the dining room. This was to stop her overhearing their gossip, but it was not successful.

A length of candle was given to the girls to take up to bed and they were only supposed to burn these for a short time. However they had boyfriends to write to and therefore pushed the little mats which were in common use at inside doors, right up to the door so that no chinks of light showed how late they were burning the candle.

* There is an anomaly here, in that John Foster died in 1920, and was not resident at the Station House at this time. His grave confirms that he served as Station Master for 37 years, but the dates of his service are unclear. Other notes suggest he served as Station Master from 1882-1919.

John Foster's grave in Scotby church yard