Garsdale railway station

Garsdale
A British Rail Class 47 locomotive no.47561 hauling diverted inter-city West Coast train passes Garsdale signal box and disused station on the Down Main line in March 1984
General information
Location	Garsdale Head, South Lakeland England
Coordinates	54°19′17″N 2°19′35″W
Grid reference	SD788918
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Other information
Station code	GSD
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Midland Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway British Rail (London Midland Region)
Key dates
1 August 1876	Opened as Hawes Junction
20 January 1900	Renamed Hawes Junction and Garsdale
1 September 1932	Renamed Garsdale
4 May 1970	Closed
14 July 1986	Reopened
Passengers
2019/20	15,800
2020/21	2,684
2021/22	12,424
2022/23	14,494
2023/24	15,112
Services
Preceding station Northern Following station Dent towards Leeds via Settle Settle and Carlisle Line Kirkby Stephen towards Carlisle
Location Garsdale Location in South Lakeland, Cumbria Garsdale Location in Cumbria, England
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Garsdale is a railway station in Cumbria, England (historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire), on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between Carlisle and Leeds via Settle. The station, situated 51 miles 29 chains (82.7 km) south-east of Carlisle, serves the village of Garsdale and town of Sedbergh, South Lakeland in Cumbria, and the market town of Hawes, Richmondshire in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

History

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. It opened on 1 August 1876 as Hawes Junction.

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, at an altitude of 1140 feet above sea level). These were removed just before the end of steam traction on British Railways in 1968. 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.

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.

Stationmasters

The station master at Garsdale possessed water-gauges, barometers and other meteorological appliances on the western slopes above the station, and collected data a few times each day and transmitted this to the Meteorological Society in London.

• H. Smith 1876 - 1880
• George Wooding 1880 - 1881
• W. Foster 1881 - 1886
• William Henry Bunce 1886 - 1919 (formerly station master at Horton in Ribblesdale)
• J.F. Ferguson ca. 1938
• Daniel May ca. 1945
• Douglas Cobb ca. 1950
• Cyril Breeze

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but waiting rooms are available on each platform and toilets on the southbound platform. There is no link between the platforms and the northbound platform is not easily accessible for disabled passengers, although there are no steps and the surface is not metalled and is uneven. Tickets must be bought in advance or on the train as no ticket machines are available, although Northern, who operate the station, is planning to install one. Train running information can be obtained from timetable posters and the customer information screens and there is public address to announce incoming trains. A bus service to and from Hawes connects with selected train departures each day.

Signal box

The signal box, a 4c type as designed and built by the Midland Railway Company, was installed in June 1910 and is made from timber with a Welsh slate roof. It was given grade II listed status in 2013. The box was significant in the 1910 Hawes Junction crash, which led to the introduction of track circuits to prevent that type of tragedy happening again. Its heritage status was awarded partly due to its involvement in the accident. In June 2020, Network Rail applied to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to carry out repairs on the decaying structure. Refurbishment began in June 2021, and is expected to take three months.

Services

Northern Trains Route 7
Settle & Carlisle & Bentham lines
Carlisle Armathwaite Lazonby & Kirkoswald Langwathby Appleby Kirkby Stephen Garsdale Dent Ribblehead Horton-in-Ribblesdale Settle Heysham Port Morecambe Bare Lane Lancaster Carnforth Wennington Bentham Clapham Giggleswick Long Preston Hellifield Gargrave Skipton Keighley 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. The "DalesRail" Sunday service that formerly called here in summer no longer operates due to a lack of available train crew to operate it.

Statue of Ruswarp

Statue of Ruswarp at Garsdale Railway Station in April 2009

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. 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. 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.

See also

• Listed buildings in Garsdale

External links

• Media related to Garsdale railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Train times and station information for Garsdale railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Dent		Northern Trains Settle and Carlisle Line		Kirkby Stephen
	Disused railways
Terminus		Midland Railway Hawes Branch		Hawes
	Historical railways
Dent		Midland Railway Settle and Carlisle Line		Kirkby Stephen
	Proposed Heritage railways
Terminus		Wensleydale Railway		Hawes