Photo: Kreuzschnabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEngland's most celebrated main line, climbing from the Yorkshire Dales over Ribblehead Viaduct and Ais Gill summit into the Eden Valley.
The Settle–Carlisle Line was built by the Midland Railway between 1869 and 1876 as its own route to Scotland, driven through some of the emptiest upland in England. Seventy-two miles from Settle Junction to Carlisle include 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts; 6,000 navvies lived in shanty towns on Ribblehead to build it. Threatened with closure in the 1980s, it was reprieved in 1989 after a national campaign and now carries Northern local trains, freight and frequent steam charters.
Heading north from Leeds the line passes Skipton before leaving the Airedale route at Settle Junction and climbing the 'Long Drag' at 1 in 100 for 16 miles. Ribblehead Viaduct, 24 arches and 104 feet high, comes just before Blea Moor Tunnel; the line then hangs on the hillside above Dentdale across Dent Head and Arten Gill viaducts, calls at Dent (the highest main-line station in England at 1,150 feet) and reaches the summit at Ais Gill, 1,169 feet, beneath Wild Boar Fell. The descent down the Eden Valley passes Kirkby Stephen, Appleby and Langwathby before joining the West Coast Main Line at Carlisle.
Settle, Ribblehead, Dent and Appleby all reward a stop, and the Friends of the line staff a shop and information point at Settle.
Ingleborough, Whernside, the view down Dentdale and Wild Boar Fell are all on the left heading north; the Pennine escarpment is on the right in the Eden Valley.
Sides are given facing the direction of travel. Miles are approximate from the start of the journey.
No. Northern trains are unreserved; buy any ticket to or from stations on the line. Summer weekend trains can be busy, so arrive early at Leeds or Carlisle.
Yes with an Off-Peak return or the Day Ranger, which lets you hop on and off at any station between Settle and Carlisle in either direction.
Steam and heritage diesel charters run regularly, but they are separate excursions, not part of the Northern timetable; see the charter tours section.
Scenic lineThrough the Peak District from Sheffield to Manchester via Totley and Cowburn tunnels, Hathersage, Castleton's Hope Valley and Edale under Kinder Scout.
Scenic lineAcross the Pennines from the Dales to Morecambe Bay by way of Giggleswick, Clapham and the Three Peaks, on the old Little North Western.
Scenic lineThrough the mill towns of the Calder valley, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and the Summit Tunnel, on the first railway across the Pennines.