Garsdale railway station

Garsdale railway station is a railway station which serves the immediate hamlet of Garsdale Head, Cumbria, England, together with the valley of Garsdale and the nearby towns of Sedbergh, Cumbria and Hawes, North Yorkshire. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services. It is situated 61 1⁄2 miles (99 km) north of Leeds.

Garsdale
Garsdale railway station
Location
PlaceGarsdale Head
Local authoritySouth Lakeland
Coordinates54.321°N 2.326°W / 54.321; -2.326
Grid referenceSD788918
Operations
Station codeGSD
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 15,614
2015/16 15,684
2016/17 12,520
2017/18 15,984
2018/19 15,572
History
1 August 1876[1]Opened as Hawes Junction
20 January 1900[1]Renamed Hawes Junction and Garsdale
1 September 1932[1]Renamed Garsdale
4 May 1970[1]Closed
14 July 1986[1]Reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Garsdale 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, though not in the same style as used elsewhere on the route.[2][3]

Adjoining the station are sixteen Railway Cottages built for its employees by the Midland Railway around 1876, the year the Settle-Carlisle Line opened. A further six cottages were added near to the Moorcock Inn soon afterwards. In the days of steam-hauled London-Scotland expresses, the locality once boasted the highest water troughs in the world (just along the line at Ling Gill). Unusually, the station waiting room was once used for Anglican church services, and the railway turntable had a wall of sleepers built around it to prevent locomotives being spun by strong winds: this happened in 1900 and was the inspiration for the story 'Tenders and Turntables' in the book 'Troublesome Engines' in The Railway Series by Rev W. Awdry.[4]

The Hawes Junction rail crash of 1910 occurred near to the station, which was originally named Hawes Junction, as it was the junction of a branch line to Hawes. This line was closed in March 1959, though it is the long-term aim of the Wensleydale Railway to extend their rails along the former route from Redmire to connect with services here, allowing through journeys to Northallerton on the East Coast Main Line. The signal box (opened just a few months before the Christmas 1910 accident) on the northbound platform is still in use today.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but waiting rooms are available on each platform. They are linked by a ramped subway and are therefore fully accessible for disabled travellers.[5] Tickets must be bought in advance or on the train as no ticket machines are available (though TOC Northern are intending to install one and PIS screens by 2020 as part of a wider station improvement programme).[6] Train running information can be obtained from timetable posters or by phone from the station signal box. A bus service to and from Hawes connects with selected train departures each day.[7]

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

Garsdale has seen a modest improvement in service levels in recent years, with an extra morning and evening service in each direction. This brings the service level up to that seen at various other stations on the route (such as Langwathby), namely eight northbound and seven southbound trains on weekdays and Saturdays, and five each way on Sundays.[8] The station is also served by DalesRail trains between Blackpool North/Preston and Carlisle on Sundays during the summer (one train each way in the summer 2019 timetable).[9]

Statue of Ruswarp
Statue of Ruswarp at Garsdale Railway Station

The southbound platform features a life-size bronze statue of a Border Collie dog named Ruswarp (pronounced /rʌsəp/). Ruswarp belonged to Graham Nuttall, one of the founding members of the group that saved the Settle-Carlisle Railway from closure. The dog was featured in the campaign, signing the petition to save the line with a paw-print. Nuttall disappeared while walking with Ruswarp in the Welsh Mountains on 20 January 1990. His body was found on 7 April; Ruswarp was still alive after standing guard over his owner's body for 11 weeks and died shortly after attending the funeral.[10] The sculpture by Joel Walker is a memorial to both Graham Nuttall, Ruswarp and the campaign to save the line from closure. It was unveiled on 11 April 2009, 20 years after the line was saved from closure.[11] The station waiting rooms, previously out of use due to leaking roofs, were also refurbished and reopened to the public as part of the ceremony.[3]

See also

References
  1. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  2. "Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Garsdale". Settle Carlisle Railway website. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  4. The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine Real Stories Database http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/database.htm%5B%5D
  5. Garsdale Station Facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 28 November 2016
  6. "Better stations are coming to Northern"Northern news article; Retrieved 23 November 2019
  7. "Little White Bus, Service 855: Garsdale to Hawes" Getdown.org; Retrieved 28 November 2016
  8. GB National Rail Timetable May 2018, Table 42 (Network Rail)
  9. "DalesRail timetable". Community Rail Lancashire Ltd. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  10. "Statue will honour hero dog Ruswarp". Pendle Today. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. 15 April 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  11. Press Release on the Statue Unveiling and Re-opening of the station buildings Archived 2 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Network Rail Media Centre; Retrieved 23 March 2009
Garsdale
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Dent   Northern
Settle-Carlisle Line		   Kirkby Stephen
Disused railways
Terminus   Midland Railway
Hawes Branch		   Hawes
Line and station closed
  Proposed Heritage railways
Terminus   Wensleydale Railway   Hawes
Line and station closed
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