From Ravenglass To Sellafield
After lunch, I continued up the Cumbrian Coast Line towards Carlisle and these are pictures I took between Ravenglass and Sellafield stations.
You get good views of the coast and also the Sellafield nuclear facility.
As I get older, I’m getting more and more sceptical the value of nuclear power.
There are so many things that we think are commonplace today, that in fifty years time will be laughed at by our descendants.
Nuclear power could be one of those things that will be no longer used for power generation, except possibly as a last resort.
I’m not worried about safety, but I believe that the expense of generating nuclear power and disposing of the spent fuel, will mean that other simpler and less-worrying for some methods of generating electricity for our needs. I don’t think wind will be promoted as much as it is now, as something better will come along.
We’ll still need plants like Sellafield, as we’ll be keeping some plants running and decommissioning others. This Google Earth image gives an idea of the size of the facility.
Sellafield
I just wonder what Sellafield would be like today, if the River Severn had been barraged around fifty years ago, as was proposed by Sir Frederick Snow.
Ravenglass Station And The Ratty Arms
My choice of Ravenglass station for a pit-stop was a good one, as I was able to get a simple baked potato well-filled with tuna mayonnaise at the Ratty Arms.
The one problem was that there was no train information or mobile signal at the station. But in the end it didn’t matter as the train arrived at the appointed time on the time-table.
To get a better feel of Ravenglass station and the area it serves, this is the Google Earth image of the area.
Ravenglass Station
Note how the Cumbrian Coast Line crosses the River Esk on a viaduct and the Ravenglass amd Eskdale Railway, which has a terminus at the station, curves away up the valley.
From Barrow-in-Furness To Ravenglass
After a brief walk around the town I returned to Barrow-in-Furness station and swapped my smart Class 185 train and headed north to Carlisle on the Cumbrian Coast Line in a more basic Class 156 train.
I was hungry so as there was another train an hour behind, I got off at Ravenglass station to search out some lunch.
The Anonymous Widower 