News

SETTLE -.CARLISLE BULLETIN

Thursday 1st March 2018.

The quite dreadful weather conditions ruling over the past few days have finally resulted in services on the Settle- Carlisle Line being suspended until further notice.

With a strong wind now resulting in drifting in the cuttings, the extreme cold creating ( presumably) large icicles in the tunnels and the difficulty experienced by key staff in reaching their place of work, there was no option but to close the railway meantime.

The Transport Secretary delegated the task of replying to Travel Watch North West to one of his Rail ministers.  The response was unsatisfactory, showing little understanding of the needs of WCML passengers and repeating what we'd heard ages ago from Virgin Trains.  

The UK’s biggest, free classic commercial vehicle rally celebrates 20th Anniversary

31ST MARCH – 1ST APRIL 2018

 KIRKBY STEPHEN AND BROUGH, CUMBRIA

Over 250 vintage buses, lorries and commercial vehicles on show. Free admission, free bus rides, Saturday evening road run through the fells, food & drink stalls and vintage funfair.

Steve Broadbent, highly experienced transport writer, has written a superb article in RAIL magazine's issue no 846 on the S&C organisations' aspirations for the future of the Settle-Carlisle Line's services.  In it he concentrates on through services from Leeds to Glasgow via Settle and Carlisle, and direct services to Manchester via Hellifield and Clitheroe.  Our thanks are due to Rail magazine, https://www.railmagazine.com/ for this.

In conjunction with Travel Watch North West, FoSCL has been running a campaign for Virgin Trains to divert trains along the Settle-Carlisle Line from Carlisle to Preston via Hellifield and Clitheroe, when the West Coast Main Line suffers scheduled or unscheduled closures.  High level meetings have been held with Virgin Trains and politicians, but to date there has been little progress.  This is a great pity, as Virgin used regularly to divert over the S&C when scheduled engineering work closed the WCML between Preston and Carlisle.  Trans Pennine Express have always been

The Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company have launched vouchers for local businesses, available to anyone. Read on...

Everybody loves a bargain.  Money-saving coupons have been around for decades and, with the advent of online shopping, it’s now really easy to find discount codes when you’re looking for a cheeky deal.

Rory Stewart MP has tweeted:

"Terrible path to Kirkby Stephen station - particularly for wheel-chairs - looking forward to working with @networkrail @NorthenrailF and @yorkshire_dales to sort it out"

Good news! This is the short path up to the down platform from the main road. People have been complaining about this for years and it's great that it looks as though something will finally be done about it.

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.