Settle to Carlisle Train Trip

Today we took a trip on the Settle to Carlisle train line, one of the most travelled in England. The views of the countryside as we sped along were fantastic.

 

The Settle - Carlisle Railway is without doubt one of Britain's most spectacular railway lines.

 

It was the last great mainline railway to be built in this country. Completed for passenger travel in 1876 by the Midland Railway Company, it had taken six years to build. For the 19th century engineers, the landscape presented a tremendous challenge to their ingenuity, skills and abilities.

Consisting of 72 miles of track with 17 major viaducts spanning the ravines and 14 tunnels, the line was constructed by men who lived a harsh life in shanty towns, with little to supplement their manpower except dynamite.
Advertised as the most picturesque route to Scotland, the Victorian and Edwardian travelling public took it to their hearts.

Occasionally private operators organise steam-hauled trains on the line.

There are -

• 380 numbered bridges (including 14 tunnels & 21 viaducts)
• 20 stations (11 open, 9 closed)
• 13 signal boxes (10 operational, 2 preserved (Armathwaite and Settle), 1 disused & derelict (Little Salkeld))
• approximately 150 railway workers’ houses (all now in private ownership)
• approximately 100 line-side huts (all disused and in various stages of decay)
• one aqueduct (recently restored)

Most of the line, from Carlisle to Dent, is in Cumbria, with the section between Ribblehead and Settle in North Yorkshire.