Ribblehead railway station

Ribblehead railway station is located at the southern end of the famous Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services.

Ribblehead
Location
PlaceRibblehead
Local authorityCraven
Coordinates54.2057°N 2.3609°W / 54.2057; -2.3609
Grid referenceSD765789
Operations
Station codeRHD
Managed byNorthern
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 19,820
2015/16 18,930
2016/17 17,734
2017/18 21,396
2018/19 19,260
History
1876opened
4 May 1970closed
16 July 1986reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ribblehead from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.[1]

It was reopened in 1986 by British Rail with only one platform (the southbound one) in place - the northbound one having been demolished after the station's original closure in May 1970 to allow for the construction of transfer sidings for a nearby quarry (these still exist and have recently been restored to use for timber trains - see below). A replacement second platform was opened in 1993 a short distance south of the original site.

In previous years, Ribblehead served as a meteorological station, with the stationmaster transmitting coded reports to the Air Ministry.[2] In 1957, the task was carried out by a former Royal Air Force navigator.[2] Monthly services were held in the station's waiting room by the Vicar of Ingleton.[2] These were accompanied by a harmonium concealed behind a billboard in the waiting room, which was brought to the station by a missionary who came as a minister to the construction gangs when the railway was being constructed through the moors in the early 1870s.[2] British Rail charged 2 shillings for the use of the waiting room, which saw as many as 50 worshippers at harvest festivals.[2]

This station is now leased by the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust, who have completely restored and refurbished it (reopened to public use in 2000).[3] There are resident caretakers, holiday accommodation, a small shop selling memorabilia, and its Visitor Centre includes exhibits about the history of the line and the fight to keep it open. One exhibit in the Visitor Centre is the original station sign and a small exhibition about the Midland Railway company, builders of the line and originally the train operators.

Facilities

The platforms both have level access, but the northbound one is linked to the rest of the station by a barrow crossing and is not recommended for use for disabled passengers without assistance.[4] Train running information is available via telephone and information posters. The station is unstaffed and no ticket machine is provided, so passengers must purchase them on the train or before their journey. Train operator Northern is intending to install both a ticket machine and digital information screens in the near future as part of a rolling station upgrade programme across its network,[5]

Passenger services
Northern Trains Route 7:
Bentham & Settle to Carlisle Lines
 Carlisle
Armathwaite
Heysham Port
Lazonby and Kirkoswald
Morecambe
Langwathby
Bare Lane
Appleby
Lancaster
Kirkby Stephen
Carnforth
Garsdale
Wennington
Dent
Bentham
Ribblehead
Clapham
Horton-in-Ribblesdale
Giggleswick
Settle
Long Preston
Hellifield
 Gargrave
 Skipton
Keighley
for Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
 Bingley
Shipley
Leeds

Generally there is a train every two hours northbound to Carlisle (eight departures on Mondays to Saturdays) and southbound to Leeds (seven Mon-Fri, plus one extra on Saturdays).[6] One service each day terminates and starts back from here (the last train of the day from Leeds) - this runs empty across the viaduct to reverse at Blea Moor signal box, where the driver changes ends before returning south. The track layout on the line does not allow the service to terminate further north at Garsdale, which has better connections for nearby settlements.

Five trains each way call on Sundays all year round, with an additional DalesRail service each way also serving the station in the summer. Between February 2016 and March 2017 northbound trains terminated at Appleby or Armathwaite (with a bus link to Carlisle) due to repair works to the damaged embankment at Eden Brows. Services through to Carlisle resumed on 31 March 2017 upon reopening of the affected section to traffic.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Horton-in-Ribblesdale   Northern
Settle-Carlisle Line		   Dent

A very occasional bus service is operated on summer Sundays and bank holidays, between Hawes and Settle via Ribblehead (in 2019, one journey each way). At other times there are no onward services available from this station. Passengers for Hawes and Wensleydale generally alight at nearby Garsdale railway station, and use the regular bus service operated by Upper Wensleydale Community Partnership, branded as the 'little white bus'. The last train of the day from Leeds terminates at Ribblehead, but the station has no onward links for passengers leaving that service.

Freight services

Colas Rail Freight began hauling timber from the transfer sidings adjacent to the station in August 2010. The timber arrives by lorry from the local fells and is transported to a woodchip and board plant at Chirk in North Wales.[7]

Roadstone from Ingleton Quarry has also occasionally been railed out of the sidings.[8] All services leaving must head north over Ribblehead Viaduct due to the lack of Run-round facilities at the station. Southbound trains can then reverse at Blea Moor Loop.[9]

  • Northbound platform at Ribblehead station
  • 158903 at Ribblehead with a service from Leeds to Carlisle

References
  1. "Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. "Chapel in a station". Trains Illustrated. X (101): 59. February 1957.
  3. "Ribblehead". Settle Carlisle Railway. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  4. Ribblehead station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 5 December 2016
  5. "Better stations are coming to Northern"Northern news article; Retrieved 23 November 2019
  6. GB National Rail Timetable May 2019, Table 42
  7. Buck, Martin (2010). Loco Review 2011. Swindon, United Kingdom: Freightmaster Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-9558275-4-9.
  8. Shannon, Paul (February 2014). "Freight Review - Gains & Losses 2013". Railways Illustrated. Key Publishing. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  9. Bridge, Mike (2013). Railway Track Diagrams - Book 4; Midlands & North West. Bradford-On-Avon: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-7-4.
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