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SCRCA Note: Partial collapse of Battlebarrow Embankment, near Bridge SAC/239 (Appleby)Created on 27 Nov 2023. Figure 1 The site of the main 1924-5 landslide as it appeared on November 21st (top) & 28th (bottom), 2023. To the north of Appleby Station, the Settle & Carlisle Railway runs along the top of a massive embankment. Following a period of wet & stormy weather in December 1924, the embankment was damaged by a series of landslides and a substantial section of the retaining wall adjacent to Battlebarrow collapsed. The contemporary newspaper reports transcribed below provide a… Read more |
SCRCA Note: the 'easier access area' (aka 'Harrington Hump') on the Up platform at Horton-in-Ribblesdale stationCreated on 13 Nov 2023. Image 1 The 'Harrington Hump' on the Up platform at Horton-in-Ribblesdale station on 24 March 2014. Horton-in-Ribblesdale station lies on a relatively tight curve and the associated cant (sideways lean) of the tracks has different consequences for the two passenger platforms. For the 'down' (northbound) platform, the cant reduces the gap, making it relatively easy for most passengers to board and alight from the trains. If ramped access is needed, it can be safely provided by the guard using… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Planning Application 22/0622 for conversion to two holiday apartmentsCreated on 31 Oct 2023. On 17 August 2022, a planning application relating to the former booking office building at Langwathby Station was received by Eden District Council for "Change of use from class E to class C1 and construction of a single storey extension". The plans and associated documentation are available online by searching for Planning application number 22/0622 at the following URL:https://plansearch.eden.gov.uk/fastweb/welcome.asp The amended plans were approved by Westmorland & Furness Council (the… Read more |
SCRCA Note: The 1910 Hawes Junction DisasterCreated on 21 Oct 2023. Figure 1: Map showing the approximate location of the accident. The map is oriented in the normal manner (north at the top). The base map is an extract from the Ordnance Survey’s Yorkshire Sheet L.SW (Revised: 1907, Published: 1913) and it is reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the terms of the 'CC BY 4.0 Deed' license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ On Saturday, 24th December 1910, Hawes Junction signal box (now Garsdale) featured in one the… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of newspaper articles for Petteril Bridge Rifle Range & Mission HallCreated on 7 Oct 2023. The following is a representative selection of articles from Carlisle-based newspapers that relate to the Midland Railway Company's mission hall and associated rifle range at Petteril Bridge, Carlisle. The first extract has been included purely to provide some context. (It suggests that, prior to the opening of the dedicated Mission Hall at Petteril Bridge, the Midland Railway Temperance Union held at least some of its regular meetings at the nearby Durran Hill engine shed.) Carlisle Journal -… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Carlisle Patriot (13/9/1895) for the G&SWR Engine Shed at Petteril BridgeCreated on 2 Oct 2023. The following account appeared in the 13 September 1895 edition of the Carlisle Patriot: GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY: THE CARLISLE SHEDS. - The annual meeting of this Company was held on Tuesday in Glasgow, Sir W. R. Watson presiding. He said that the capital expenditure for the current year would be £78,023, for various objects, including the new engine sheds at Carlisle. In the net revenue account there was one item to which he desired to call their special attention. It was the… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Carlisle Express and Examiner (23/1/1875) for the G&SWR Engine Shed at Petteril BridgeCreated on 1 Oct 2023. The following account appeared in the 23 January 1875 edition of the Carlisle Express and Examiner: GREAT STORM IN CARLISLE. Great Destruction of Property. ... At the Mains, London Road, in this city, where the Midland and Glasgow and South-Western Railway Companies are erecting extensive goods and engine shedding, an accident occurred causing great damage. The ground appropriated to this purpose is on the east side of the bridge over the river Petteril at that place, and lies on both banks.… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of the Lancaster Gazette, 12 June 1875 for Salt Lake QuarryCreated on 15 Sep 2023. The following is an extract from an article published in the Lancaster Gazette on Saturday 12 June 1875 (page 2): Nearly opposite [Salt Lake] cottages there is a large quarry, from which thousands of tons of stone have been got. At the time of our visit work is still proceeding here under the charge of a good-natured portly 'ganger' who, with dimensions almost equal to those of the Claimant, seems to thrive thoroughly well, in spite of hard work and constant exposure to all sorts of weather. At… Read more |
SCRCA Memory relating to life near Durran Hill MPD (Carlisle)Created on 1 Sep 2023. The following recollections were kindly supplied by a nearby resident who wishes to remain anonymous: I was born 1956 in a house next to the Settle line an area now called Kennan Park near to the Durranhill depot. Most of my neighbours were also Railway worker. My father was a railway Bricklayer and worked on the settle line. Repairing the bridges, buildings also Blea Moor Tunnel and the Ribblehead Viaduct and many of the signal boxes. stations basically if it had bricks he worked on it along… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Derailment at Petteril Bridge Junction on 19th October 2022Created on 18 Aug 2023. Shortly after 20:00 on Wednesday 19th October 2022, a freight train carrying powdered cement between Clitheroe and Carlisle derailed at Petteril Bridge Junction. Fortunately no one was injured during the incident. However, it destroyed the southern parapet of Bridge NER/168 and caused considerable damage to two switches (a.k.a. points / turnouts), eighty metres of track and approximately 400 metres of track-side cabling. As a consequence, the Settle & Carlisle and Tyne Valley railway lines… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Midland Railway plans of Quarries and Sand Pits (Carlisle Record Office ref: DX 1447/1)Created on 3 Jul 2023. Carlisle Record Office item reference DX 1447/1 (titled "Midland Railway plans of stone quarries and sand pits") consists of a roll of six plans, drawn in ink, approximately foolscap size. The plans are mostly undated except for one, which gives a date of October 1910. They are all of an identical style and it seems reasonable to assume they were all prepared at the same time (and the 1910 date has been assigned to the whole collection). The locations shown are:- Ribblehead Hawes Junction… Read more |
Contract Plan illustrating the replacement of Helwith Bridge and the diversion of the River RibbleCreated on 30 Jun 2023. When constructing the Helwith Bridge section of its Settle & Carlisle line, the Midland Railway Company had to alter the course of the River Ribble [1] and replace an historic river crossing [1 & 2]. Figure 1: Midland Railway contract plan circa 1874 showing the original and proposed alignments of the River Ribble and Helwith Bridge. The old and new arrangements are documented in the accompanying contract plan (see Figure 1), which has been uploaded here courtesy of the Midland… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference relating to Hellifield workers' housing: Leeds Mercury, 22nd June 1880Created on 27 Jun 2023. When the Midland Railway Company opened its new junction station at Hellifield on 1st June 1880, it also created a brand new railway community on what had previously been rural farmland. The June 22nd 1880 edition of the Leeds Mercury tells us more: The quiet village of Hellifield, a few miles beyond Skipton, ... has been transformed into a busy place for railway traffic, and will henceforth be known as Hellifield Junction. Consequent on the extension of the Lancashire and Yorkshire line from… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Contract No. 1. Specification (September, 1869)Created on 27 Jun 2023. Key details relating to the construction method used for Bridge SAC/20 (Stainforth / Taitlands Tunnel) are provided in a contract document in the collection of the Midland Railway Study Centre (MRSC): Where the Tunnel is in rock it shall be so worked that the blasting for the general excavation shall leave the top and sides solid and unshaken. The top and sides must be finished by rough pick dressing; no doubtful or loose pieces shall be allowed to remain on the sides or on the top. ... Where… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Dry Beck ViaductCreated on 27 Jun 2023. Source: "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London (1876): Soon after leaving Armathwaite we pass over one of the heaviest embankments on the line. It stretches from the station to a little beyond Drybeck viaduct, and contains nearly 400,000 cubic yards of material. As two and a half or three such yards of "stuff" would quite fill a tip waggon, it is plain that at least 133,000 separate… Read more |
News reports relating to a landslide at Dent Head aqueduct on 20th February 1935Created on 21 Jun 2023. At about 1pm on Wednesday 20th February 1935, a significant landslide occurred in the vicinity of Bridge 83 (an aqueduct carrying a small stream that drains part of the western flank of Wold Fell, near Dent Head). The landslide completely blocked both the 'up' and 'down' lines for two weeks and necessitated single-line operations for a further six weeks or so. The slip destabilised the cutting and seriously damaged both the aqueduct and the adjacent sections of retaining wall. To reduce the… Read more |
SCRCA Note: YDNPA planning application 36161 for Horton station booking officeCreated on 8 Apr 2023. On 26/4/2022, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority granted planning consent for the conversion of the former Booking Office building at Horton-in-Ribblesdale station into a small short-stay holiday let, with a separate cafe-bar / meeting room / community space. The holiday let is to be located in the former Ladies' Waiting Room at the north end of the building, while the cafe-bar etc. will occupy the former Booking Hall, Station Masters' Office and Porter's Room at the south end. The… Read more |
Lever frame reference drawing for Hawes Junction signal box (circa 1910 - 1932)Created on 5 Dec 2022. The image below was created by photographing a framed original displayed at "Shed 24H" (the cafe at Hellifield Station) on 14/10/2022. It has been uploaded here with the kind permission of Stuart Dean. For a larger (1800 pixel wide) version, click / tap on the image. |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Arten Gill ViaductCreated on 11 Nov 2022. Source: "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London (1876). The following selected extracts are from pages 508-511: Image 1 Engraving showing Arten GIll Viaduct under construction circa 1873 (from F.S. Williams). Arten Gill ... is deep; the banks on each side are steep; and before the viaduct was commenced there was a waterfall of 60 feet descent. The stream is spanned by a viaduct 660 feet… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Contemporary accounts relating to Appleby Station FootbridgeCreated on 9 Sep 2022. These notes were made as part of a quest to answer two seemingly simple questions: 1) Why was Appleby Station provided with a passenger footbridge in 1901 (25 years after the line opened for passenger use, but more than 90 years before the other 'large' Settle & Carlisle Railway stations received theirs)? 2) What exactly was the 'mishap' / 'shunting incident' that befell the footbridge less than a year after it was installed (and what were the implications for the bridge)? The second… Read more |
SCRCA Note: the origin and installation of Settle Station FootbridgeCreated on 9 Sep 2022. The notes below were compiled by Mark Rand for publication in the August 2020 edition of the FoSCL Journal. Mark has kindly given us permission to reproduce them here. "Where did the Settle footbridge come from?" I and many others have believed it to have come from Drem, Scotland. That information is repeated in numerous printed sources. Doubt was raised however by Scottish Railway Heritage committee member John Yellowlees who, when e-mailing me with kind comments about the Settle water tower's… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Dandrymire ViaductCreated on 30 Aug 2022. Source: "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London (1876). The following selected extracts are from pages 508-511: On leaving the tunnel, the line emerges into Garsdale. ... Soon we see, upon our right, a roadside inn, called "The Moorcock," notable in the district as standing at the junction of three roads. This inn is at the head of three valleys: the Wensleydale, winding eastward down to… Read more |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Anderson & Fox (1986) for 269910Created on 26 Jul 2022. Plate 125 includes an oblique view of the rail-facing elevation of the goods shed. The caption states that the latter was "for three wagons". |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Anderson & Fox (1986) for 236330Created on 26 Jul 2022. Plate 9 is a very useful B&W context photograph taken from the south end of the 'Down' platform looking south. It shows the trackwork leading past the original 'Up' side water crane (SCRCA Structure ref 236400) into the goods yard. Settle Station Signal Box (in its original location - SCRCA Structure ref 236340) and the goods shed (SCRCA Structure ref 236330) are visible in the distance. The caption states that a five-wagon goods shed was provided. Plate 12 is a close-up of the north… Read more |