Settle Carlisle Railway Conservation Area (SCRCA) SCRCA 'snippets', ordered by the date of upload with the most recent displayed first.
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SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Carlisle Patriot (13/9/1895) for the G&SWR Engine Shed at Petteril BridgeCreated on 2 October 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.... 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 October 2023. The following account appeared in the 23 January 1875 edition of the Carlisle Express and Examiner: GREAT STORM IN CARLISLE. |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of the Lancaster Gazette, 12 June 1875 for Salt Lake QuarryCreated on 15 September 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... Read more |
SCRCA Memory relating to life near Durran Hill MPD (Carlisle)Created on 1 September 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... Read more |
SCRCA Note: Derailment at Petteril Bridge Junction on 19th October 2022Created on 18 August 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... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Midland Railway plans of Quarries and Sand Pits (Carlisle Record Office ref: DX 1447/1)Created on 3 July 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... Read more |
Contract Plan illustrating the replacement of Helwith Bridge and the diversion of the River RibbleCreated on 30 June 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... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference relating to Hellifield workers' housing: Leeds Mercury, 22nd June 1880Created on 27 June 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... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of Contract No. 1. Specification (September, 1869)Created on 27 June 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... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Dry Beck ViaductCreated on 27 June 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... Read more |
News reports relating to a landslide at Dent Head aqueduct on 20th February 1935Created on 20 June 2023. At about 1pm on Wednesday 20th February 1935, a significant landslide occurred in the vicinity of Bridge 83 (an aqueduct carrying a small stream that drains part of the western flank of Wold Fell, near Dent Head). The landslide completely blocked both the 'up' and 'down' lines for two weeks and necessitated single-line operations for a further six weeks or so. The slip destabilised the cutting and seriously damaged both the aqueduct and the adjacent sections of... Read more |
SCRCA Note: YDNPA planning application 36161 for Horton station booking officeCreated on 8 April 2023. On 26/4/2022, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority granted planning consent for the conversion of the former Booking Office building at Horton-in-Ribblesdale station into a small short-stay holiday let, with a separate cafe-bar / meeting room / community space. The holiday let is to be located in the former Ladies' Waiting Room at the north end of the building, while the... Read more |
Lever frame reference drawing for Hawes Junction signal box (circa 1910 - 1932)Created on 5 December 2022. The image below was created by photographing a framed original displayed at "Shed 24H" (the cafe at Hellifield Station) on 14/10/2022. It has been uploaded here with the kind permission of Stuart Dean. Lever frame reference drawing for Hawes Junction signal box.Date unknown, but almost certainly circa 1910 - 1932... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Arten Gill ViaductCreated on 11 November 2022. Source: "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London (1876). The following selected extracts are from pages 508-511: Image 1 Engraving showing Arten GIll Viaduct under construction circa 1873 (from F... Read more |
SCRCA Note: Contemporary accounts relating to Appleby Station FootbridgeCreated on 9 September 2022.
These notes were made as part of a quest to answer two seemingly simple questions: |
SCRCA Note: the origin and installation of Settle Station FootbridgeCreated on 9 September 2022. The notes below were compiled by Mark Rand for publication in the August 2020 edition of the FoSCL Journal. Mark has kindly given us permission to reproduce them here. "Where did the Settle footbridge come from?" I and many others have believed it to have come from Drem, Scotland. That information is repeated in numerous printed sources. Doubt was raised however by Scottish Railway Heritage committee member John Yellowlees who, when e-mailing me with kind comments about the... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of F.S. Williams (1876) for Dandrymire ViaductCreated on 30 August 2022. Source: "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London (1876). The following selected extracts are from pages 508-511: On leaving the tunnel, the line emerges into Garsdale. ... Soon we see, upon our right, a roadside inn, called "The Moorcock," notable in the district as standing at the junction of three roads. This inn is at the head of three valleys: the Wensleydale, winding... Read more |
SCRCA Note: Why is Armathwaite Signal Box painted yellow?Created on 16 July 2022. The short answer to this often asked question is that "it is believed to be an authentic period colour scheme". Armathwaite signal box was constructed in 1899 by the Midland Railway Company and, at that time, its standard colour scheme for painting signal boxes was: 'Venetian Red' for the structural frames; 'Lemon Chrome' for the wall panel in-fills; white for the window frames; and white lettering... Read more |
SCRCA Note: Material relating to Hellifield station bookstalls in the University of Reading W.H. Smith ArchiveCreated on 8 July 2022. Following receipt of the information regarding railway bookstalls operated by W. H. Smiths from Christopher Rule, the SCRCA Project Coordinator contacted Reading University on 1st July 2022 with the following request for information: Are you able to provide any additional information relating to W.H. Smith's operations at Hellifield and / or the associated bookstall structures? We are... Read more |
SCRCA Memory by Christopher Rule: Railway bookstalls operated by W. H. SmithsCreated on 8 July 2022. The following information was kindly supplied by Christopher Rule in response to a post on social media seeking information about the bookstall / news kiosk on Hellifield station (see structures 231285 and 231300). I don’t have any specific information about Hellifield bookstall as the W.H.Smith Archive is now housed at the University of Reading. The Archive is... Read more |
SCRCA Note: Proposals for a modern footbridge at Horton-in-Ribblesdale StationCreated on 1 March 2022. Network Rail recently announced a £1.9m scheme to replace the current foot crossing (Location ID 242490) at Horton-in-Ribblesdale Station with a modern footbridge (complete with lifts). The reasons given for this proposal include: increased accessibility (e.g. for passengers with mobility impairments); the increased usage of the footpath (which... Read more |
SCRCA Primary Reference: Review of MRC's Weekly Notices for Blea Moor Signal BoxCreated on 31 October 2021. According to entries in the Midland Railway Company's Weekly Notices, the opening dates for the four signal boxes at Blea Moor were: Opened 2.8.1875 Replacement box opened 4.12.1892 Replacement box opened 28.6.1914 Replacement box 60 yards to the south opened 16.12.1941This information was kindly supplied by Dave Harris (the Study Centre Co-ordinator for the Midland Railway Study Centre in Derby). |
SCRCA Secondary Reference: Review of Anderson & Fox (1986) for 248590Created on 30 October 2021. Plate 47 is a useful (but undated) black & white photograph showing Blea Moor Signal Box in its pre 1941 position (beside the 'down' line), a water crane (Location ID 248540), the semi-detached workers' houses (Location ID 248580) and their outhouses and the 'up' side water tower / tank-house (Location ID 248530). The accompanying text... Read more |
SCRCA Note for Location ID 299780 (platelayers' hut)Created on 4 August 2021. This structure was demolished at some point between 21/4/2015 and 3/8/2021. |
SCRCA Note: Drainage repair works inside the ventilation shafts of Rise Hill TunnelCreated on 18 January 2021.
During a twelve week project in late 2017, CAN Geotechnical Ltd undertook repair work to the drainage systems lining the two ventilation shafts associated with Rise Hill Tunnel (Air Shaft 1 and Air Shaft 2). A brief summary of the work is available at: |