There are numerous photogenic locations on the Cumbrian Coast route from Lancaster to Barrow and on to Workington and Carlisle, but one which I found particularly attractive was Ulverston, birthplace of comedian Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame, and home to an attractive Grade II-listed station. This opened in 1874, replacing an earlier Furness Railway terminus station on completion of the route to Barrow.
It has an unusual layout similar to that at Yeovil Pen Mill in having an island platform and a main down platform with platform 2 not in regular use (and not numbered) so all up trains serve platform 3, while in the down (westbound) direction train doors are only opened on platform 1.
Signalling interest here comprises an up starter just beyond the platform ends, with a down starter alongside the far disused (western) end of the island platform. Ulverston signal box stands some 400 yards west of the station, with an advanced down starter beyond it, immediately in front of a bridge carrying the A590 trunk road and a home signal in the up direction, with shunting arm for access to sidings opposite the signal box.
Besides shots on the station itself, the best vantage point for photos requires a 15 minute walk from the station to the A590 over bridge, west of the town, where a low parapet give an uninterrupted view towards the signal box and station. Besides the regular Class 156 worked passenger services, there is the occasional bonus of a Direct Rail Services Class 37 heading one of the two four-coach loco-hauled sets used on a number of services between Preston, Barrow and Carlisle.
RailwayWorld.net 
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