Shap Summit
Shap Summit is a route summit of the A6 road and the highest point of the West Coast Main Line railway in England, near to the Cumbria village of Shap in North West England.
Road
The route summit of the A6 road at Shap is approximately 1,350 feet (410 m) above sea level. Until 1970 when the nearby M6 motorway was completed, it was one of the major routes between England and Scotland. The route was often hazardous in poor weather, and often became impassable in winter during snowfall.[1][2][3]
Rail
The summit of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) is 916 feet (279 m) above sea level. It is the highest point of the WCML in England, however Beattock Summit in Scotland is the overall highest summit of the line at 1,016 feet (310 m). The actual summit is in a cutting, a short distance south of the former Shap railway station. The northbound climb has a 5.5 miles (8.9 km) ascent beginning at Tebay, with gradients of up to 1 in 75 (1 foot of rising or falling gradient for every 75 feet of distance).[4]
The line was opened in 1846 as part of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, after much debate over the best routing of the line. In the days of steam locomotives, the steep gradients of the climb meant that bank engines based at Tebay were often required to assist trains up the incline. The line was electrified in 1974.[4]
In 2004 the Tebay rail accident occurred, when an unbraked wagon being used by track maintenance workers ran away downhill from Shap Summit, killing four railway workers at nearby Tebay.
References
- ^ "Shap". Visit Eden. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Shap Grid Ref : NY 562154". Visit Cumbria. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Slow lorries, but fast ladies". Press Reader. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ a b Buck, Martin, Rawlinson, Mark (2000). Line By Line, The West Coast Main Line, London Euston to Glasgow Central. Freightmaster Publishing. ISBN 0-9537540-0-6.
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