Ingleton (Midland) railway station was one of two stations serving the village of

Ingleton, North Yorkshire Ingleton is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is from Kendal and from Lancaster on the western side of the Pennines. It is from Settle. The River Doe and the River Twiss meet t ...

, England. It was originally open for just ten months between 1849 and 1850, and did not reopen until 1861. It then served as the frontier between the Midland Railway to the south and the London and North Western Railway to the North, with trains from each railway terminating at the station. Through trains did not begin until the two companies were merged in 1923. The station closed in 1954. The village's Community Centre is now on the site of the former station.

History

Ingleton station opened on 31 July 1849 as a temporary northern terminus of the

"Little" North Western Railway The North Western Railway (NWR) was an early British railway company in the north-west of England. It was commonly known as the "Little" North Western Railway, to distinguish it from the larger London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The NWR w ...

(NWR), who were authorised to build a line from

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Ai ...

Tebay Tebay is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic borders of Westmorland. It lies in the upper Lune Valley, at the head of the Lune Gorge. The parish had a population of 728 in the 2001 census, increasing to 776 at th ...

. However, the company ran into financial difficulty and decided to concentrate on the less expensive construction of a branch line to Lancaster, and on completion of that branch, the short section between and Ingleton was closed only ten months after opening, on 1 June 1850. A complex sequence of negotiations over the building of line north of Ingleton followed. A number of railway companies were interested in the line as part of a route from London to Scotland; the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) already had such a route and were opposed to their competitors gaining one. Eventually it was agreed that the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) would build the Ingleton Branch Line from the existing Ingleton Station to . By the time the branch was completed in 1861, the L&CR was operated by the LNWR, and the NWR was operated by the rival

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 ...

(MR), and the LNWR did everything in its power to frustrate the MR's ambition of using the new line as a main route to Scotland. Thus the LNWR had its own station at the other end of Ingleton Viaduct. The Ingleton Branch, and the LNWR station, opened on 16 September 1861. The MR reopened the original Ingleton station two weeks later on 1 October 1861, but refused to let LNWR trains use it. Passengers had to walk nearly a mile (1½ km) between the two Ingleton stations, descending into the valley below and climbing up the other side, where they often had a long wait as the companies did not cooperate over timetabling either. By 1862, the MR agreed to allow LNWR trains to terminate at the Midland station, but both Ingleton stations remained open and connections were not timetabled. The presence of the Midland station played a major role in the success of the

Ingleton Waterfalls Trail Ingleton Waterfalls Trail is a well-known circular trail beginning and ending in the village of Ingleton in the English county of North Yorkshire, now maintained by the Ingleton Scenery Company. It is claimed that the trail, some long, and wi ...

which opened in 1885 and attracted visitors from Bradford,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

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 ...

. In 1923, the LNWR and MR were merged into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The LNWR station closed and, for the first time, passengers could travel through Ingleton without changing trains. The site of the former LNWR station was host to three LMS caravans in 1934 and 1935, four from 1936 to 1938 and finally two caravans in 1939. On 30 January 1954, the station closed along with all passenger services on the line. The station continued to be used for goods until 1965, and the tracks were lifted in 1967. The station was demolished and the site is now occupied by Ingleton Community Centre and the village's main car park.

Stationmasters

*Richard Bennett ca. 1860 ca. 1861 *E. Coates until 1872 *M. Congrove 1872 - 1876 *William Briscoe 1876 - 1886 *W.J. Stowell 1886 - 1889 *Richard Collett 1889 - 1907 *W.T. Noble 1907 - ca. 1914

Ingleton Viaduct

A viaduct of 11 arches each wide, long with a maximum height of crosses the valley of the River Greta. The foundations of this had been laid in 1849 by the NWR, but it was left to the L&CR to build it from late 1858 to 18 May 1860. It was built with white sandstone from a Bentham quarry, to designs by the line's engineers,

Joseph Locke Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was a notable English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects. Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as on ...

and John Errington. The two Ingleton stations were at either end of the viaduct. The viaduct was designated a Grade II listed building on 23 November 1988.

References

External links

Ingleton Viaduct: The North-West Frontier
{{Railway stations in Craven Disused railway stations in North Yorkshire Craven District Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1850 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1861 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Former Midland Railway stations 1861 establishments in England