Dent is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, serves the villages of Cowgill and Dent, in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, 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 railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

and managed by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

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

History

The station was designed by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 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 ...

's company architect John Holloway Sanders and opened in 1877. It was closed in May 1970, but was reopened by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in 1986 following a campaign to maintain regular stopping services along the line. Initial consideration had been given to siting a station for the valley at Dent Head, further to the south and adjacent to the road running over Gayle Moor towards Hawes and Ingleton; however, this was ruled out in favour of the current location, as it would have been nearly twice as far from Dent village. During the 1970s, the station was rented out to Barden School in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for pupils whilst they participated in courses including pot holing, caving, geology and map reading. 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 services operated 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.

Location

Dent village lies approximately by road to the west and below the height of the station. Cowgill is the nearest small village, located around half a mile away but at the foot of a steep (maximum 20% or 1 in 5) spiral access road. At an altitude of and situated between Blea Moor Tunnel 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 using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

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 by an unguarded barrow crossing 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 should 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; travellers must buy one on the train or in advance. Train running information can be obtained by telephone on the platforms, from timetable posters or the customer information screens installed on either platform. Old wooden snow fences are still in place on the eastern side of the station. The station buildings are now privately owned and are available to rent as holiday cottage accommodation.

Services

Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service is eight northbound train and six southbound calls on weekdays, with five each way on Sundays.

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 Railway stations served by Northern Reopened railway stations in Great Britain John Holloway Sanders railway stations Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria Dent, Cumbria