Settle Carlisle Railway Conservation Area (SCRCA) During the initial stages of its creation and operation, Ribblehead Quarry would almost certainly have used the goods yard at Ribblehead station, although this was inconveniently located on the opposite side of the railway (beside the 'up' line).
In 1945, a short, single-track siding was installed on the 'down' side to serve H. Austin’s limeworks (which was located at Ribblehead Quarry).
In 1949, plans were drawn-up for a significant expansion of the siding capacity for the quarry. However, these plans were never implemented.
The closure of Ribblehead station for passenger traffic on 4th May 1970 provided another opportunity for the expansion of the quarry siding. In 1975 the down platform was demolished and Austin's short siding was extended into the quarry.
After the extraction of limestone at Ribblehead Quarry ceased due to declining demand (circa 1973-4), a new purpose was found for the associated sidings. They provided a rail head / transhipment point for crushed stone from Ingleton Quarry (approximately 5 miles to the southwest of Ribblehead). The stone was transported from Ingleton by road and transferred into rail wagons at Ribblehead sidings. The outbound flows were destined for Healey Mills, Carnforth and Blackburn and the stone was used as railway ballast. This traffic flow ceased on 31st January 1986.
The sidings then saw occasional use as a stabling point for engineers' trains and track maintenance vehicles (e.g. tampers).
In 1998, Hanson Aggregates formally gave-up its mineral extraction rights for the site, leaving "23 million tonnes of high-quality limestone" unexploited. The company converted the quarry into a nature reserve then, in 2000, transferred its ownership to English Nature. However, the former quarry sidings were retained for strategic purposes (i.e. potential future use).
In 2000, the sidings at Ribblehead were once again used for the transhipment and storage of ballast. In this case, the flow was inbound by rail from Healey Mills and the ballast was being stockpiled in preparation for major track renewal works along the S&C. The inbound flow commenced on 28th August and continued for a month. The trains arrived from the south, then reversed into the quarry. After the ballast had been removed, the trains of empty wagons continued north to Carlisle. The track renewal work took place during November of the same year.
In 2010, an agreement was made for the Tilhill Forestry Group to use the sidings as a transhipment point for timber (in the form of tree trunks) that was being harvested from the large coniferous plantations on nearby Cam Fell (see sidebar).
In 2013, Hanson UK began to use the transfer sidings at Ribblehead as an occasional transhipment point for "stone scalpings" (crushed stone) from Ingleton Quarry. The aggregate is transported to the railhead by road and tipped into carefully segregated piles beside the transfer sidings (forming what has become known as a 'virtual quarry'). A train of empty rail wagons is propelled (reversed) into the sidings and a bucket loader (effectively a large mechanical shovel) is used to transfer stone from the virtual quarry into rail wagons. When the wagons are full, the train departs northbound for Blea Moor 'Up' lie-by siding, where the locomotive 'runs-round' the wagons. The train then departs southbound for Hanson's asphalt depot at Hunslet (near Leeds) and, more recently, for Ashton-in-Makerfield (near Wigan), Tuebrook (near Liverpool) and Doncaster.
In a public consultation document for its 2014 Local Plan, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) included the following statement:
"Railhead safeguarding is necessary to ensure that quarry and forestry operations can be rail connected so as to reduce reliance on road transport of their products. There are two existing operational railheads in the Park (Swinden Quarry & Ribblehead sidings) and two proposed railheads (Arcow Quarry & Horton Quarry)."
The proposed railhead for Arcow Quarry became a reality in 2016 - see Location ID 240950.
Anticipating the construction of its new railhead, Horton Quarry began to send some of its growing output by road to the virtual quarry at Ribblehead. On 20 September 2022, the first train containing stone from Horton Quarry departed from the Ribblehead transfer sidings.
The proposed railhead for Horton Quarry finally became a reality in 2025 - see Location ID 242405.
The transfer sidings at Ribblehead will continue to serve Ingleton Quarry and, should the need arise, they could be used as a fall-back option for Horton Quarry.
Access to the transfer sidings at Ribblehead is controlled via a ground frame adjacent to the turnout from the 'down' main line. The ground frame is released and locked remotely from Blea Moor signal box and a dedicated telephone is provided to facilitate communication between the staff at the siding and the signaller on duty at the signal box.