THURSDAY. Tewitfield, Lancaster canal
The 2008 trip thus far: 330 Locks; 641 Miles; 65 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 31
It rained all morning; we had lunch and then as the rain had stopped, caught the bus to Carnforth.
I had noticed a large bookshop on our last visit; and the fact that they had a second hand section upstairs. Today I went inside and the whole of the upper floor is filled with them; I was quite restrained and came away with just two.
We wandered around the town and found various good quality buildings. Having worked up a thirst, we arrived at Carnforth station and visited the visitor centre; this is housed in the building containing the refreshment rooms featured in Brief Encounter. (Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, to save your memory!) Therein, we had a large pot of delicious tea, leaf tea no less; for a very reasonable £2.30.
When the filming took place in 1945, the station was larger by two platforms, the up and the down on the West coast main line. These were removed just before the 1970 London to Glasgow electrification scheme; leaving just the two curved ones of the Furness lines.
Various interesting displays can be seen in the other rooms, with a lot of well presented historical information. There is a gift shop and a room containing two model railway layouts, one 0 gauge and one 00. Passing through the present booking hall from the car park, a well stocked model railway shop can be found on your right hand side.
A well set out attraction and worth a visit.
Weather – Rain in the morning, dry in the afternoon.
