Horton-in-Ribblesdale railway station
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Horton-in-Ribblesdale 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 village of
Horton-in-Ribblesdale Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent. Its population in the 2001 census ...
,
Craven Craven may refer to: * Craven in the Domesday Book, an area of Yorkshire, England, larger area than the district ** Craven District, a local government district of North Yorkshire formed in 1974 Places * Craven, New South Wales, Australia, see ...
in
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, 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 State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...
.


History

The station was completed 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 am ...
in 1876 and was opened for passengers on 1 May. It was initially named "Horton". The
London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
absorbed the Midland Railway on 1 January 1923 and renamed the station as Horton-in-Ribblesdale on 26 September 1927. The station buildings were designed by the Midland Railway 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 ...
. The station is currently (2019) served and managed by
Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...
, as are all the trains calling at the station. It is unstaffed, with no ticket vending facilities (so tickets can only be purchased in advance or on the train – Northern has stated it plans to provide a ticket machine here in the future). The station waiting room is open for public use, having been restored by the Settle & Carlisle Railway Trust in 2002 as part of a wider refurbishment of the main buildings on the eastern side (other parts of the building are rented out for commercial use). It is located near to
Pen-y-ghent Pen-y-ghent or Penyghent is a fell in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is the lowest of Yorkshire's Three Peaks at ; the other two being Ingleborough and Whernside. It lies east of Horton in Ribblesdale. It has a number of interesting geologic ...
, one of the mountains known collectively as the
Yorkshire Three Peaks The mountains of Whernside (), Ingleborough () and Pen-y-ghent () are collectively known as the Three Peaks. The peaks, which form part of the Pennine range, encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National ...
. The station and the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale are at 850 feet above sea level, as stated on the decorative station information board, and are about north of
Settle 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 ...
. In the 1950s and 1960s under stationmaster Taylor, Horton won the "Best Kept Station" award for 17 consecutive years. The station lost its passenger service on 4 May 1970, but reopened in July 1986, along with several other local stations on the line under
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
. Goods traffic was handled at the station until 1964, with sidings at the southern end serving the nearby
Horton Quarry Horton Quarry is a limestone quarry near to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, England. The quarry, which is some north of Settle, has been operating since at least 1889, and produces limestone for a variety of purposes. Stone used to be e ...
continuing in use until the early 1980s. These were removed after the station signal box was decommissioned in 1986, but plans to reinstate them (as was done at nearby Arcow Quarry in 2016) are currently under consideration.


Stationmasters

*J.H. Preston 1876 – 1877 *H.J. Newth 1877 – 1880 *Thomas Rawlings 1880 – 1882 *William Henry Bunce 1882 – 1886 (afterwards station master at Hawes Junction (Garsdale)) *Charle James 1886 – 1898 *Richard Davies 1898 – ca. 1911 *W. Hardy ca. 1914 *Albert Daw 1929 – 1938 (afterwards station master at Barnoldswick) *F. Hodgson ca. 1945 ca. 1947 *James M. Taylor 1947 - 1959 (afterwards station master at Settle)


Facilities

As the station does not have a footbridge, the platforms are linked by a foot crossing (known in railway terms as a
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 ...
). Both platforms are lower than standard (though the southbound one has been partially raised to improve access to trains); there is no step-free access. Train running information is available via telephone and timetable posters, with digital PIS displays also now available following a rolling upgrade programme of station facilities by operator Northern. There is a proposal that the station receives a new footbridge (announced in March 2020), thanks to a £1.9 million scheme funded jointly by Network Rail and the government. This will see a fully accessible footbridge (complete with lifts) installed to replace the current barrow crossing. The bridge will also allow a scheme to relay the former quarry sidings (to permit Horton Quarry to dispatch its stone by rail once more) to proceed, as more trains would be shunting in and out of the station. However, the Yorkshire Dales National Park authority have objected to the proposal for a footbridge on the grounds that the design will impede on the conservation area, as the buildings that will house the lift shafts will be prominent above the station.


Service

There are about one train every two hours in each direction: southbound 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 populati ...
(seven in total) and northbound to
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
(eight, plus one evening train that terminates at Ribblehead). The total is slightly unbalanced as some trains do not stop here. There is an extra train to Leeds on Saturdays, whilst there are five trains a day to both Leeds and Carlisle on Sundays (one of the former now continues to ).GB National Rail Timetable May 2019; Table 42


References


Sources

*


External links

* * {{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Ribblesdale Railway stations in North Yorkshire DfT Category F2 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1876 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1986 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Northern franchise railway stations John Holloway Sanders railway stations Beeching closures in England