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SCRCA Note: New waiting shelters at Long Preston railway station, Feb-Mar 2024Created on 24 Mar 2024. The two waiting shelters at Long Preston railway station were replaced with new versions during late February / early March 2024. The new structures are more substantial than the old ones and the project has significantly improved the appearance of this pleasantly situated rural station, which lies adjacent to the Long Preston Conservation Area and within the Settle & Carlisle Railway Conservation Area (SCRCA). Figure 1: A montage of photographs showing the new waiting shelters at Long… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Repairs to Little Salkeld Viaduct (Bridge SAC/296) in 2015-16Created on 10 Mar 2024. In 2015 the viaduct's masonry was renovated as part of the never-ending cycle of inspection and maintenance. This project included: the partial replacement of some of the arch ring brickwork (to address 'spalling' that had reached a depth of up to 190mm); the re-pointing of open joints in the spandrel walls (to prevent further deterioration); and a series of stitch repairs (to address cracking and joint fractures). When the Eden Brows landslip forced the closure of the north end of the S&CR… Read more |
SCRCA Note: The fatal railway accident near Little Salkeld on 19th January 1918Created on 8 Feb 2024. Figure 1: Map showing the location of the railway accident that occurred on 19 January 1918 near Little Salkeld. Bridge SAC/300 is labelled with [A] and the site of the landslip is labelled with [B]. The map is oriented in the normal manner (north at the top). The base map is an extract from Ordnance Survey sheet NY53NA (published 1972), which is reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (https://maps.nls.uk/) under the terms of the 'CC BY 4.0 Deed' license: https://… Read more |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Mitchell & Fox "Hellifield and the Railway" for the station bookstallCreated on 3 Feb 2024. In his book "Hellifield and the Railway" (published by Castleberg in 1991), W.R. Mitchell recounts some of the stories he'd heard over many decades while chatting to railwaymen. The following is relevant to the Hellifield bookstall & news kiosk: Pages 38 & 40: Jim Antell, starting as boy at the bookstall at the age of 13, received half-a-crown a week. In summer, two boys were employed by the manager. One boy delivered newspapers and magazines in the village. The other, his periodicals… Read more |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Mitchell "Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway" for Hellifield Station BookstallCreated on 3 Feb 2024. In his book "Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway" (published by Dalesman in 1984), W.R. Mitchell records some of the stories he'd heard over many decades while chatting to railwaymen. Two of these stories (from different unidentified sources) are relevant to the Hellifield bookstall & news kiosk: Page 45: The was also a platform bookstall. ... A man who recalls starting in the service of Smith's at the age of 13 – at a wage of half-a-crown a week - says that in summer a second boy was… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Enabling legislation for Appleby South JunctionCreated on 4 Jan 2024. Appleby South Junction (the southern link between the North Eastern and Midland lines) required additional legislation and this was provided via section 4, subsection 10 of the Midland Railway (Additional Powers) Act, 1875, which received Royal Assent on 29 June 1875. The relevant text is as follows: 4. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Company may make and maintain, in the lines and according to the levels shown on the deposited plans and sections thereof, the railways and alterations… Read more |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Baughan “North of Leeds ...” (1966) for Appleby South JunctionCreated on 3 Jan 2024. Source: Peter E. Baughan, “North of Leeds: the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle line and its branches” , Roundhouse Books (1966). On page 191, Baughan states that Joseph Firbank was awarded the contract to construct the Appleby South Junction line on 4 April 1875 and that the price agreed was £8,346. On page 192, Baughan states that: this short section of railway was "about 3/4 mile in length", the construction of the south junction & associated link lines was delayed by a shortage of labourers during… Read more |
SCRCA Note: Contemporary accounts relating to Appleby South JunctionCreated on 3 Jan 2024. Penrith Observer, 16th February 1875 We are informed that the Midland and North Eastern Railway Companies have decided to erect a passenger station at Appleby which will meet the requirements of both. A loop line will connect the North Eastern Railway with the Midland at the north and south approaches. This arrangement will prove advantageous to both companies, and it will be appreciated by passengers. Birmingham Daily Gazette, Wednesday 14 February 1877 MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY The report of… Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Midland Railway contract plan for Taitlands.Created on 20 Dec 2023. This extract from an undated Midland Railway contract plan depicts a cutting (rather than a tunnel) through the grounds of Taitlands. It has been uploaded here courtesy of the Midland Railway Study Centre (reference 88-1997-5_5.5) and it is shared subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. |
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 (https://maps.nls.uk/) 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… 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 |