Taking in Cumbrian fells and dreamy Dales, with stops in fine northern towns, the Settle-Carlisle railway is a magnificent route. It’s one I’ve travelled – in whole or in part – more than a dozen times, and for my latest ride, in late March, I decided to turn a straightforward, if sublime, journey into an odyssey.
Rather than simply hopping on at Leeds – where the service begins – or Skipton, near my home, I rode the full loop around the lakes, combining the Cumbrian Coast Line with the Settle-Carlisle to turn a day trip into a three-day mini-holiday, and experience what I would argue is the UK’s greatest landscape journey by rail.
The ride took me from Preston to Barrow, then on to Whitehaven and Carlisle, where, two nights later, I picked up the Settle-Carlisle railway southbound.
The line celebrates its 150th birthday this year. Quite a milestone, not least because it was almost closed 40 years ago. Every crossing of the Ribblehead Viaduct is a victory for rail-lovers. The Settle-Carlisle is now a “community rail partnership”, meaning local volunteers support the line and its stations.
The atmosphere on board was festively familial; I had a cup of tea and bought a calendar on board to support their work.
A Northern train passing over Ribblehead Viaduct (Photo: Pete Stuart/Getty)The line’s setting is magnificent and alighting at any station opens up glorious walking country – including High Cup Nick (accessed from Appleby-in-Westmorland), the Yorkshire Three Peaks (from Horton or Ribblehead) or the Dales Way to Sedbergh (from Dent).
On past trips, when alighting to tackle a hike, I’ve always made sure to look back to watch the service depart; the sight of the little train against the backdrop of a big, wide-open landscape is truly stirring.
The journey has a built-in drama, too. On leaving Carlisle and Hadrian’s Wall country, the views quickly turn lush and green as we enter the Eden Valley, with small sandstone villages dotting the low slopes.
The names of stations like Armathwaite, Lazonby and Kirkoswald, and Langwathby contain the Old Norse words for ford, copse and meadow, and when the train breaks free of its cuttings I spy fast-flowing streams, woods and the patchwork of dry-stone walls.
Approaching Appleby-in-Westmorland (famous for its annual horse fair, held in June), I catch glimpses of the hilltops of the North Pennines National Landscape on the left. South of here, things become really stunning – with the moors ever closer and the line rising all the way to Dent, England’s highest station.
The gorse, blackthorn and hawthorn are in flower; yellow, white and pink flashes break up the shades of green. In late summer and autumn, purple heather takes over.
Settle station is run by volunteersA Settle-Carlisle line was first proposed to parliament by the Midland Railway in 1866, when competing independent companies owned the UK’s railways. When the Midland attempted to renege after deciding it was too costly, the Government forced it to proceed. Construction took seven years and 6,000 men.
There’s a memorial at St Leonard’s church, Chapel-le-Dale, “to the memory of those who through accidents lost their lives, in constructing the railway works, between Settle, and Dent Head”.
The burial register contains the names of more than 200 people from the railway construction camps, many of them women and children; the churchyard had to be extended when smallpox broke out in the camps. There’s a gentle seven-mile circular walk from the station at Ribblehead to the church, passing under the viaduct, with the option of splicing in a walk up Whernside – the highest peak in the Dales.
The line opened for goods traffic in August 1875, with passenger services commencing officially on 1 May 1876. At the line’s peak, 90 trains passed through daily. Along the 72-mile route are more than 20 viaducts and 14 tunnels, as the track meanders around features in the landscape or goes right through them.
Is the view better from the train or the tracks? (Photo: Shep Woolley)The big debate among fans of the Settle-Carlisle is: is the view better from the train or from the side of the track, watching the train?
Certainly, the viaducts look amazing when you are down in the valleys and cloughs, but there’s something empowering about riding across them too. Once upon a time, trains ran all the way from London to Glasgow, via this line, in 10 hours, until alternative lines closer to the coasts proved faster and more economical.
British Rail announced plans to close the Settle-Carlisle line in December 1983, but after a long campaign, it was officially given a reprieve in April 1989.
Britain’s most remote signal box at Blea Moor (Photo: Jayne Lis)Demand these days is healthy, with Northern Rail, which operates the service, recording 995,000 passenger journeys on the line in 2025. A single ticket starts at £4.60. The company has announced it will offer tickets for £1.50 during the anniversary year, although details have not yet been confirmed.
There are other celebrations, too. A Settle-Carlisle passport was recently launched, inviting passengers to collect brass rubbings at each station. A new play about the line is due to be premiered at the Public Hall, Appleby, on 4 July, with a second performance at the Victoria Hall, Settle, on 5 July.From 28 April to 4 May, the Ride to Stride walking festival will take place, with guided walks, talks and music. And to recapture the age of steam, when the line opened, an anniversary charter steam train will take passengers from Carlisle to York on 25 May.
If – in this anniversary year – your visit coincides with a day when steam trains are crossing the viaduct, and the light is just right, perhaps with some summer drizzle to add to the effect, you’ll wonder how anyone ever considered closing this sublime line.
How to do it
Open returns from Settle to Carlisle start from £27.80. If you want to combine the Settle–Carlisle and Cumbrian Coast lines, the 280 bus runs between Skipton and Preston, so you can finish where you started.
More information
settle-carlisle.co.uk
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