News

At the Railway Heritage Awards in London recently the new waiting shelter on Settle Station was highly commended.

The Times has published a letter from Bryan Gray, Chairman of the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust, praising the work of FoSCL and other volunteers in caring for England's most scenic railway.

"Sir, I agree with Christian Wolmar (“Green light for reopening derelict rail lines”, letter, Nov 30, and news, Nov 29) that the government’s rail strategy fails to recognise the efforts of voluntary groups. The best returns will come from supporting existing railways and those who support them.

Santa’s polishing his boots and the elves are getting excited – it’s nearly time for the Christmas Comet excursion to York.

If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, there are still a few places left in standard class.  For passengers travelling from Settle or Skipton, there are cheeky deals to be had, with a group ticket for four people at £100 or a ticket for 2 at £50.00.

Info from Northern Rail:

The RMT union has announced further strike action on Northern services on Wednesday 8 November 2017. More information regarding services on that day will follow, but any services we are able to run are expected to be very busy.

For more information on the strike click here

The October edition of the Settle-Carlisle electronic newsletter is available to be viewed here.  Thanks to the Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company for producing this.

The new Managing Director of Northern, David Brown, opened the refurbished Visitor Centre at Ribblehead Station on Monday 2nd October. David Brown was until recently Chief Executive of Transport for the North, and this was his first official engagement in his new role. He arrived in the driver’s cab of the 12.02 train from Leeds and was accompanied by Paul Barnfield, Chris Jackson and John Kitching of Northern.

The RMT have called for further industrial action on 3 and 5 October.

Rail services through Northern’s franchise area will be affected. You can find out more about the services being operated in due course at Northern’s website https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/industrial-action

It is recommended that you check Northern’s website prior to any journey to ensure you are aware of the most up-to-date information

Campaign for Borders Rail 
Press Release – Wednesday, 30 August 2017

Carlisle and Campaign put Railway Development on the Agenda.

Carlisle City Council’s Leader, Cllr Colin Glover, has held joint talks with the Campaign for Borders Rail, agreeing to stimulate economic growth through reinstatement of the railway between Carlisle, Longtown, and the Scottish Borders.

RMT Industrial Action Friday 1 and Monday 4 September

The National Railway Museum and the Midland Railway Study Centre have recently launched a timetable finding aid for the Midland Railway and its constituent companies. This takes the form of a comprehensive listing of the printed timetables currently available for public viewing by visiting the Midland Railway Study Centre in Derby, the National Railway Museum in York, and the National Archives in Kew. The timetable finding aid covers the period 1848 to 1922 and takes the form of a 36-page (2.1Mb) pdf document. For further information - and to download the document - see:

‘ExploreMore’ goes live at Ribblehead Visitor Centre.

A new way of looking at the Settle Carlisle line has gone live at the refurbished Ribblehead Visitor Centre. Using a touch screen you can now view the line between Settle and Blea Moor tunnel using aerial photography and 3D models. By clicking on the main features of the line (Ribblehead, Horton and Settle stations, Blea Moor and Settle signal boxes, Helwith Bridge quarry etc) you can explore further. Each feature has a gallery of images and stories including personal reminisences.

Northern have informed us that the refurbishment of their fleet continues apace and at the present time there can be as many as six units in works undergoing refurbishment.

The refurbishment of each unit will be done in two stages and as such work will be spread over several months ahead.

With so many units out of traffic this may lead to some services being formed of a lesser number of carriages than normal.

The front panels of the northbound waiting shelter at Ribblehead station have been replaced by volunteers from the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line and the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust working in partnership with Network Rail.  Although the shelter Is only some 20 years old, dating from the building of a new northbound platform to replace the one demolished to make way for the quarry siding, it had seriously deteriorated and the timber decayed.

Popular as ever, our three holiday lets, the Station Master’s House at Ribblehead and cottages in Kirkby Stephen Station are booking up fast for 2017.

Book with us today to enjoy the sun and steam of a Settle-Carlisle summer

Our wonderful self-catering accommodation on the S&C means you can step right onto the train from your chosen cottage/house and explore this beautiful line.

Don’t forget your FoSCL discount - just let Rachel know your membership number when booking.

The RMT have called for further industrial action on 8, 9 and 10 July.  Rail services through Northern’s franchise area will be affected. You can find out more about the services being operated on these three days at Northern’s website

Tullie House Museum and the Settle-Carlisle Line are jointly working on a project to promote Carlisle's railway heritage.  This may lead to a bid for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund,

On Saturday 8th July at 1.45 pm there is a public consultation meeting at Tullie House Museum, chaired by Eric Robson, presenter of BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time. All welcome.

See http://www.foscl.org.uk/content/carlisle-railway-heritage-poster

The 6th annual Ride 2 Stride festival of walks, talks and music has been declared a resounding success with over 800 people joining the walks and attending the walks.  The festival, organised jointly by Friends of the Settle Carlisle Line, Friends of Dalesrail, Friends of a Dales Highway and other organisations was held during the last week of April culminating on May Day Bank Holiday Monday.  Despite some uncertainty on the Friday due to planned industrial action by some rail staff all the events were well supported.  This year film makers David Halsall and Bridget Izod brou

After weeks of social media pestering of Northern by FoSCL, spearheaded by former Chairman Mark Rand and supported by an increasing number of others, including RAIL's editor Nigel Harris we have had a top level response from Northern's interim MD Alan Chaplin today.

The offending material is being removed from the 158 windows 'immediately'.   They had tried to remove the entire wrap but found that paint was coming off as well so decided to reveal the windows only at this stage.

This link takes you to a seven minute timelapse video of the Eden Brows Story, culminating in the passing of Flying Scotsman on Friday last.
 

Enthralling to watch, and a full record of this project from start to finish.

http://www.storycontracting.com/project/eden-brows-repair-works/
 
 
 

As of 31st March, the line is fully open again.  A normal timetable is in operation.  On Friday 31st March, people flocked to the lineside to see Flying Scotsman travel from Keighley to Carlisle and back. 

The 0550 from Carlisle was the first train southbound and was packed with people wanting to take part in a historic occasion, not to mention all the media recording the event.

And the trains were packed throughout the day, a sure sign of the importance of the line to local people.