Eastern Railway. 1948 to 1989: British Railways In 1948 the railways of Britain were nationalised and the line became part of British Railways. In the following decade several stations closed: Musgrave station in 1952, Kirkby Thore in 1953, Temple Sowerby closed to passengers in 1953, and Cliburn station in 1956. In 1958 a two car diesel multiple unit service was introduced. However between 1962 and 1963 the entire line closed to passengers. At the same time the Stainmore railway also closed completely apart from a short section of track eastwards from Kirkby Stephen East railway station to Merrygill Viaduct for the quarry nearby. From then on only freight trains used the line. The line from Clifton to Appleby was also closed, and, from 1963 points east of Appleby could only be reached via the junction with the Settle and Carlisle railway at Appleby. Freight trains still ran from Appleby to Kirkby Stephen and then to Hartley Quarry (). In 1974 that service ended and the track was removed except for about between Appleby and Warcop. Trains for the Warcop Training Area north of Warcop village ran until 1989. The line today The section of line between Appleby and Warcop has been restored by the Eden Valley Railway Trust, originally known as the Eden Valley Railway Society. At the southern end of the route, the Stainmore Railway Company has reinstated a short stretch of track near Kirkby Stephen East station. Other than in the restored sections, none of the track remains in situ. Most of the trackbed remains as a feature on the landscape and as field boundaries. To the south east of Kirkby Thore the A66 road crosses the trackbed close to where Kirkby Thore station once stood, and the station was demolished when the road was remodelled in 1974. Clifton Moor, Cliburn, Temple Sowerby and Warcop and Musgrave railway stations are now private residences. Other features including the signal boxes at Cliburn and Warcop have survived. The bridges at Musgrave and Skygarth have been removed. The former junction west of Kirkby Stephen with the line to Tebay is now a nature reserve. Notes References Sources A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 4: The North East, K. Hoole, 3rd Edition, 1986 The North Eastern Railway, Cecil J. Allen, 1974 The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, William Weaver Tomlinson, 1915, online version via www.archive.org The