Dent railway station is on the historic Settle-Carlisle Line, with services to Leeds and Carlisle. Dent village is approximately 4.8 miles (8 km) by road to the west, and 400 ft (120 m) below the height of the station, with Cowgill being the nearest small village, located around half a mile away.[2]
Altitude sign, preserved gas lamp and wooden snow fence at rear
There are stone-built passenger waiting rooms provided on both the northbound and southbound platforms. Access to the southbound platform is, somewhat unusually, by an unguarded barrow crossing at the south end of the station for foot passengers to use (a 30 mph permanent speed restriction for non-stop trains through the station is enforced for this reason). National Rail recommends that disabled passengers not use the southbound platform without assistance.[4] Like most stations on the line, there are no ticket machines available as yet (though Northern have stated they plan to provide one here) and so travellers must buy on the train. Train running information can be obtained by telephones on the platforms or from information posters. New digital information screens have also been installed here, though as of November 2019 these have yet to be commissioned.
Old wooden snow fences are still in place on the eastern side of the station (see image). Dent Station buildings are now privately owned and are available to rent as holiday cottage accommodation.[5]
The station building is now a holiday cottage under the auspices of The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line.
The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders[6] and opened in 1877[7] and originally closed in May 1970 but was reopened by British Rail in 1986 following a campaign to maintain regular stopping services along the line.[8]
During the 1970s the station was rented out to Barden school in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for pupils whilst they carried out various courses ranging from pot holing, caving, to geology and map reading.[9]
Services
On weekdays there were formerly five trains in each direction, with six each way on Saturdays and three each way on Sundays.[10] In addition, DalesRail services operate on summer Sundays from Blackpool North and Preston to Carlisle, with one journey in each direction. Northbound trains terminated at either Appleby or Armathwaite until the end of March 2017, as the Armathwaite to Carlisle section was closed whilst the damaged embankment at Eden Brows was repaired. Services through to the terminus at Carlisle resumed on 31 March 2017.
Class 47, Statesman Rail in BR Two Tone Green, passing through Dent Station.Network Rail Track Cleaner at Dent Station
Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service has increased to eight northbound and six southbound calls on weekdays and five each way on Sundays.[11]
^"Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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