The market town is also served by the railway station at Giggleswick, situated about a mile to the south-west, which is on the Bentham Line, running between Leeds and Morecambe via Lancaster.
History and facilities
Settle station looking south showing the ex North British Railway footbridge.Settle Signal Box
The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.[2] The station was opened with the line on 1 May 1876 and was originally named Settle New to distinguish it from the nearby station on a different route, which was renamed Settle Old at the same time. Settle New was renamed Settle on 1 July 1879, by which time Settle Old had become Giggleswick.[3] Goods facilities were withdrawn from the station in 1970.
The railway station is located very close to the town centre and is staffed on a part-time basis. There is a range of facilities available (including waiting room, toilets and a souvenir shop) in the main buildings on the southbound platform.[4] There is a period stone-built waiting room located on the northbound platform and a new stone and glass shelter on the southbound side.
The platforms are linked by an ex-North British Railway footbridge that was formerly located at Drem station in East Lothian until electrification of the ECML made it redundant. It was then dismantled and re-erected here in 1993 to allow the old barrow crossing at the north end of the station to be taken out of regular use (though the crossing is still available for wheelchair users when the station is staffed).
A ticket machine is available for use when the booking office is closed. Train running information is provided by timetable posters, a P.A system and telephone. Digital information screens were also installed here in the summer of 2019.
The former Settle Station signalbox, which has been out of railway use since 1984, was relocated further north to be adjacent to the Down platform in 1997,[5] and is open to the public on most Saturdays.[6]
The water tower situated near the station in the former goods yard was converted into residential accommodation in 2011.[7]
Abraham Fearn ca. 1914 - 1924 (formerly station master at Oxenhope, afterwards station master at Clay Cross)
Harold Tilforth 1924 - 1925 (resigned to avoid being dealt with for a cash irregularity)[11]
John Banks ca. 1939 - 1946
Thomas William Whetten from 1946[12] (formerly station master at Kirby Lonsdale)
Harry Robinson
James M. Taylor 1959 - 1965 (formerly station master at Horton in Ribblesdale)
Accidents and incidents
On 21 January 1960, an express passenger train derailed just to the north of the station (near the village of Langcliffe) and then collided with a northbound freight due to a defect on the BR Standard Class 7 locomotive hauling it. Five people were killed and nine were injured.[13]
Monday to Saturdays there is generally a two-hourly service southbound to Leeds (nine trains a day in total Mon-Sat[14]) and northbound to Carlisle (eight). The last train of the day from Leeds runs only as far as Ribblehead and the corresponding return to Leeds starts back from there. Trains terminated or started from either Appleby or Armathwaite from the spring of 2016 whilst Network Rail repaired a major landslip at Eden Brows (between Armathwaite & Carlisle). A replacement bus service was in operation over the affected section until the project to repair the line was completed in March 2017.[15] The project was completed on schedule and the line reopened to traffic on 31 March 2017.
On Sundays there are now six trains in each direction throughout the year (including one through train to & from Nottingham); the additional summer service between Preston and Carlisle via Blackburn and Clitheroe (northbound in the morning, returning south in the afternoon) operated by Northern Rail under the DalesRail brand isn't running in 2023.[16]
The new Northern franchise awarded to Arriva Rail North in December 2015 and which started in April 2016, has seen modest service improvements from the station implemented from the May 2018 timetable change, with one extra weekday service each way and two extra trains each way on Sundays.[17]
^"Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 208. ISBN1-85260-508-1. R508.
Anderson, V.R. and Fox, G.K. Stations and Structures of the Settle & Carlisle Railway, Oxford Publishing Company, 1986. ISBN0-86093-360-1.
"Settle 'box refurbished after 20 years neglect". RAIL. No. 342. EMAP Apex Publications. 21 October – 3 November 1998. p. 15. ISSN0953-4563. OCLC49953699.
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