The Gilgarran Branch was a 7-mile-32-chain long (11.9 km) single track railway line connecting four separate railway companies in the former county of Cumberland, now part of Cumbria, England.

Distington railway station was opened jointly by the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) and the LNWR and Furness Joint Railway on 1 October 1879. It was situated on the northern edge of the village of Distington, Cumbria, England, where the C&WJR's north–south main line crossed the Joint Line's east–west Gilgarran Branch.