Barnoldswick railway station

Barnoldswick was the only railway station on the Midland Railway's 1-mile-64-chain (2.9 km) long Barnoldswick Branch in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England (now in the Pendle District of Lancashire); it served the market town of Barnoldswick. The line left the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway at Barnoldswick Junction 55 chains (3,600 ft; 1,100 m) from Earby. The line through the junction was on a 20-chain (1,300 ft; 400 m) radius after which it converged to a single track and ran in a straight but undulating line to Barnoldswick. The passenger train that ran back and forth between Barnoldswick and Earby was known locally as the Barlick Spud or Spudroaster. The real reason for the name is lost in time, but the two versions that were commonly recited are that the original branch locomotive was so small it looked like a portable potato roaster used by a local vendor or that the journey time was the same as that taken to roast a potato in the locomotive's firebox.