Dent is a railway station on the

Settle and Carlisle Line Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...

, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the villages of Cowgill and

Dent Dent may refer to: People * Dent (surname) * Dent May (active 2007), American musician * Dent Mowrey (1888–1960), American composer, musician and music teacher * Dent Oliver (1918–1973), international speedway rider Places France * Dent d' ...

, South Lakeland in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, England. It is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and managed by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...

. It is the highest operational main line station in England.

Location

Dent railway station is on the historic Settle-Carlisle Line, with services to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and Carlisle. Dent village is approximately by road to the west, and below the height of the station, with Cowgill being the nearest small village, located around half a mile away. Rth Railway Dent Stn 20

At an altitude of and situated between

Blea Moor Tunnel Blea Moor Tunnel is a 2,629 yd (2,404 m) railway tunnel located between Ribblehead Viaduct and Dent railway station in England. It is the longest tunnel on the Settle-Carlisle Line, being almost twice as long as the second long ...

and Rise Hill Tunnel immediately to its north, Dent is the highest operational

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

on the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

network in England.

Facilities

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 There are around 6,000 level crossings in the United Kingdom, of which about 1,500 are public highway crossings. This number is gradually being reduced as the risk of accidents at level crossings is considered high. The director of the UK Rail ...

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. 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.

History

The station was designed by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

company architect

John Holloway Sanders John Holloway Sanders FRIBA (1825 – 16 October 1884) was an architect based in England and chief architect of the Midland Railway until 1884. His date of appointment as Chief Architect to the Midland Railway is not known, but he is recorded as ...

and opened in 1877 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. During the 1970s the station was rented out to Barden school in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for up to 15 pupils whilst they carried out various courses ranging from pot holing, caving, to geology and map reading.

Stationmasters

*A Greenwood 1877 - 1879 *Thomas Crossley 1879 - 1889 *Richard Davies 1889 - 1898 *George Palmer 1898 - 1904 *J. Roadley 1904 - 1907 *John Johnson 1907 - ca. 1914 *William Porter Nicholson from 1935 *Richard H. Lamb (afterwards station master at Sandal and Walton, later station master at Skipton) *Rodney Hampson 1952 - 1955

Services

On weekdays there were formerly five trains in each direction, with six each way on Saturdays and three each way on Sundays. In addition,

DalesRail DalesRail is a railway passenger service operated for tourism in the summer months across Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire, England. The service routinely uses the current freight-only line between Clitheroe and Hellifield, offering the ...

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 The Statesman

Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service has increased to eight northbound and six southbound calls on weekdays and six each way (including the DalesRail service) on Sundays.Northern Rail Timetable 7 - Leeds to Carlisle, Leeds to Morecambe & Heysham Port, 19 May to 14 December 2019
'Northern'' website; Retrieved 15 May 2019

References

External links

* * {{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Beeching closures in England DfT Category F2 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Cumbria Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1877 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1986 Northern franchise railway stations Reopened railway stations in Great Britain John Holloway Sanders railway stations Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria Dent, Cumbria