Settle–Carlisle line
Steam locomotiveSir Lamiel on theRibblehead Viaduct in 1982
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	North West England Yorkshire and the Humber
Termini	Settle 54°04′01″N2°16′51″W / 54.0669°N 2.2807°W /54.0669; -2.2807 (Settle station) Carlisle 54°53′28″N2°56′01″W / 54.8911°N 2.9335°W /54.8911; -2.9335 (Carlisle station)
Stations	19
Service
Type	Main line
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Northern Trains
Depot(s)	Neville Hill, Leeds
Rolling stock	PrimarilyClass 158
History
Opened	1875 (goods) and 1876 (passengers)
Technical
Line length	71.75 mi (115.47 km)
Number of tracks	Double (except Ribblehead Viaduct)
Track gauge	Standard gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	No
Operating speed	60 mph (97 km/h)
Highest elevation	Ais Gill (1,169 feet (356 m))
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Settle–Carlisle line
Legend
WCML toGlasgow & Glasgow South Western Line toStranraer Carlisle WCML toPreston & Cumbrian Coast Line toBarrow-in-Furness Tyne Valley line toNewcastle Petteril Goods Scotby Cumwhinton Cotehill Armathwaite Armathwaite Tunnel 325 yd 297 m Baron Wood Tunnel No 2 251 yd 230 m Baron Wood Tunnel No 1 207 yd 189 m Lazonby & Kirkoswald Lazonby Tunnel 99 yd 91 m Little Salkeld Langwathby Waste Bank Tunnel 164 yd 150 m Culgaith Tunnel 661 yd 604 m Culgaith New Biggin British Gypsum Works,Kirkby Thore Long Marton Eden Valley Railway toClifton and Lowther Appleby Junctions Appleby East Appleby Eden Valley Railway Ormside Viaduct 200 yd 183 m Ormside Helm Tunnel 571 yd 522 m Crosby Garrett Crosby Garrett Tunnel 181 yd 166 m Eden Valley Railway Scandal Beck South Durham & Lancashire Union Rly toTebay Smardale Viaduct 237 yd 217 m Kirkby Stephen East South Durham & Lancashire Union Rly toDarlington Kirkby Stephen Birkett Tunnel 424 yd 388 m Ais Gill Summit 1169 ft 356.3 m Shotlock Hill Tunnel 106 yd 97 m Moorcock Tunnel 98 yd 90 m Dandry Mire/Moorcock Viaduct 227 yd 208 m Wensleydale Railway toHawes Garsdale Rise Hill Tunnel 1213 yd 1109 m Dent Arten Gill Viaduct 220 yd 201 m Dent Head Viaduct 199 yd 182 m Blea Moor Tunnel 2629 yd 2404 m Ribblehead Viaduct 440 yd 402 m Ribblehead Ribblehead siding Horton-in-Ribblesdale Horton Quarry Stone quarries, Arcow &Dry Rigg Stainforth Tunnel 120 yd 110 m Settle Leeds–Morecambe line toLancaster Settle Junction Leeds–Morecambe line toLeeds
[1][2][3][4]

TheSettle–Carlisle line (also known as theSettle and Carlisle (S&C)) is a 73-mile-long (117 km) main railway line in northern England. The route, which crosses the remote, scenic regions of theYorkshire Dales and theNorth Pennines, runs betweenSettle Junction, on theLeeds–Morecambe line, andCarlisle, near theEnglish-Scottish borders. The historic line was constructed in the 1870s and has several notable tunnels and viaducts such as the imposingRibblehead.

The line is managed byNetwork Rail. All passenger services are operated byNorthern apart from temporary diverted services (due to closures of theWest Coast Main Line) and are part of theNational Rail network. Stations serve towns such asSettle in North Yorkshire,Appleby-in-Westmorland in Cumbria and small rural communities along its route.

In the 1980s,British Rail planned to close the Settle–Carlisle line. This prompted a campaign to save the line by rail groups, enthusiasts, local authorities and residents along the route. In 1989, the UK government announced the line would be saved from closure. Since then, passenger numbers have grown steadily to 1.2 million in 2012. Eight formerly closed stations have been reopened and several quarries have been reconnected to the line. It remains one of the most popular railway routes in the UK forcharter trains and specials. After damage by a landslip, part of the line was closed from February 2016 to March 2017. To celebrate the reopening, the first regular mainline scheduled service in England for nearly half a century ran with asteam engine.

The Settle–Carlisle line (S&C) had its origins in railway politics; the expansion-mindedMidland Railway company was locked in dispute with the rivalLondon and North Western Railway (LNWR) over access rights to the latter's tracks to Scotland.

The Midland's access to Scotland was via the"Little North Western" route toIngleton. TheIngleton branch line from Ingleton toLow Gill, where it joined theLancaster and Carlisle Railway, was under the control of the rival LNWR. Initially the routes, although physically connected at Ingleton, were not logically connected, as the LNWR and Midland could not agree on sharing the use ofIngleton station. Instead the LNWR terminated its trains atits own station at the end of Ingleton Viaduct, and Midland Railway passengers had to walk about a mile over steep gradients between the two stations in order to change into/from LNWR trains.^[5]

An agreement was reached over station access, enabling the Midland to attach through carriages to LNWR trains at Ingleton. Passengers could continue their journey north without leaving the train. The situation was not ideal, as the LNWR handled the through carriages of its rival with deliberate obstructiveness, for example attaching the coaches to slow goods trains instead of fast passenger workings.^[6][7]

The route through Ingleton is closed, but the major structures, Low Gill and Ingleton viaducts, remain. It was a well-engineered line suitable for express passenger running, but its potential was never realised due to the rivalry between the companies. The Midland board decided that the only solution was a separate route to Scotland. Surveying began in 1865, and in June 1866, approval was given to the Midland's bill, for whichSamuel Carter was solicitor, and theMidland Railway (Settle to Carlisle) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. ccxxiii) became law.^[8] Soon afterwards, theOverend-Gurney banking failure sparked a financial crisis in the UK. Interest rates rose sharply, several railways went bankrupt and the Midland's board, prompted by a shareholders' revolt, began to have second thoughts about a venture whose estimated cost was £2.3 million (equivalent to £270 million in 2023).^[9] As a result, in April 1869, with no work started, the company petitioned Parliament to abandon the scheme it had earlier fought for. However Parliament, under pressure from other railways which would benefit from the scheme that would cost them nothing, refused, and construction commenced in November that year.

The line was built by over 6,000navvies,^[10] most of them Irish, who worked in remote locations, enduring harsh weather conditions. Large camps were established to house the navvies, with many becoming complete townships with post offices and schools. They were named Inkerman, Sebastapol and Jericho. The remains of one camp – Batty Green – where over 2,000 navvies lived and worked, can be seen near Ribblehead. Scripture readers helped to counteract the effect of drunken violence in these isolated communities.^[11][12]

A plaque inSt Leonard's Church, Chapel-le-Dale, records the workers who died, both from disease and from accidents, while building the railway. The death toll is unknown, but 80 people died at Batty Green alone in asmallpox epidemic.^[10]

A memorial stone was laid in 1997 in the churchyard of St Mary's Church,Mallerstang to commemorate the 25 railway builders and their families who died during the construction of this section of the line, and who were buried there in unmarked graves.

The engineer for the project was John Crossley fromLeicestershire, a veteran of other Midland schemes. The terrain traversed is among the bleakest and wildest in England, and construction was halted for months at a time due to frozen ground, snowdrifts and flooding. One contractor had to give up as a result of underestimating the terrain and the weather – Dent Head has almost four times the rainfall of London. Another long-established partnership dissolved under the strain: that of William Eckersley and John Bayliss (1826-1900), Bayliss continued the project until its completion in 1877. They were contracted to construct the 23 mi (37 km) section fromKirkby Thore toPetteril Bridge in Carlisle.^[13]

The line was engineered to express standards throughout – local traffic was secondary, and many stations were miles from the villages they purported to serve. The railway's summit at 1,169 feet (356 m) is atAisgill, north ofGarsdale. To keep the gradients to less than 1 in 100 (1%), a requirement for fast running using steam traction, huge engineering works were required. Even so, the terrain imposed a 16-mile (26 km) climb from Settle to Blea Moor, almost all of it at 1 in 100, and known to enginemen as "the long drag".

The line required 14 tunnels and 22viaducts; the most notable is the 24-archRibblehead Viaduct which is 104 ft (32 m) high and 440 yards (402 m) long. The swampy ground meant that the piers had to be sunk 25 ft (8 m) below the peat and set in concrete in order to provide a suitable foundation. Soon after crossing the viaduct, the line enters Blea Moor tunnel, 2,629 yd (2,404 m) long and 500 ft (152 m) below the moor, before emerging ontoDent Head Viaduct. The summit atAisgill is the highest point reached by main-line trains in England. The tunnel atLazonby was constructed at the request of a local vicar as he did not want the railway to run past the vicarage.^[14]

Water troughs were laid between the tracks at Garsdale, enabling steam engines to take water without stopping.

The remains of the navvies' camp atRise Hill Tunnel were investigated byChannel 4'sTime Team in 2008, for a programme that was broadcast on 1 February 2009.

The line opened for goods traffic in August 1875 with the first passenger trains starting in April 1876. The cost of the line was £3.6 million (equivalent to £430 million in 2023)^[9] – 50 per cent above the estimate and a colossal sum for the time.

For some time the Midland dominated the market for London-Glasgow traffic, providing more daytime trains than its rival. In 1923 the Midland and the LNWR were both merged into the newLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway. In the new company, the disadvantages of the Midland's route were clear – its steeper gradients and greater length meant it could not compete on speed from London to Glasgow, especially as Midland route trains had to make more stops to serve major cities in the Midlands and Yorkshire. The Midland had long competed on the extra comfort it provided for its passengers but this advantage was lost in the merged company.

After nationalisation in 1948, the pace of rundown quickened. It was regarded as a duplicate line, and control over the through London-Glasgow route was split over several regions which made it hard to plan popular through services. Mining subsidence affected speeds through the East Midlands and Yorkshire. In 1962, theThames–Clyde Express travelling via the S&C took almost nine hours from London to Glasgow – over the West Coast Main Line the journey length was 7 hours 20 minutes.

In 1963, theBeeching Report into the restructuring ofBritish Rail recommended the withdrawal of all passenger services from the line. Some smaller stations had closed in the 1950s. Although the Beeching recommendations were shelved, it is clear that closure of the line was planned as early as the late 1960s. Such closure is referred to in paragraph 40 of the official report into the accident involving two goods trains between Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Selside on 30 October 1968, by Lt. Colonel I.K.A. McNaughton:

"... Even if the Settle and Carlisle line were planned to form part of the long term railway network of the country, it would still come fairly low in the priority list for installation of AWS; this route, however, is planned for closure within the next few years ..."

In May 1970 all stations except for Settle and Appleby West were closed, and its passenger service cut to two trains a day in each direction, leaving mostly freight.

Few express passenger services continued to operate,The Waverley fromLondon St Pancras toEdinburgh Waverley viaNottingham ended in 1968, while theThames–Clyde Express from London toGlasgow Central viaLeicester, lasted until 1975. Night sleepers from London to Glasgow continued until 1976. After that a residual service from Glasgow – cut back at Nottingham (three trains each way) – survived until May 1982.

During the 1970s, the S&C suffered from a lack of investment, and most freight traffic was diverted onto the electrifiedWest Coast Main Line. The condition of many viaducts and tunnels deteriorated due to lack of investment.DalesRail began operating services to closed stations on summer weekends in 1974. These were promoted by theYorkshire Dales National Park Authority to encourage ramblers.

In the early 1980s, the S&C was carrying only a handful of trains per day, and British Rail decided the cost of renewing the viaducts and tunnels would be prohibitively expensive, given the small amount of traffic carried on the line. In June 1981 a protest group, the Friends of the Settle–Carlisle Line (FoSCL), held its inaugural meeting atSettle Town Hall and campaigned against the line's closure even before it was officially announced.^[15]

In 1984, closure notices were posted at the S&C's remaining stations. However, local authorities and rail enthusiasts joined together and campaigned to save the S&C, pointing out that British Rail was ignoring the S&C's potential fortourism, ignoring the need for a diversionary route to the West Coast Main Line, and failing to promote through traffic from the Midlands and Yorkshire to Scotland.

There was outrage over the closure plan: critics pointed out that this was a main line, not a small branch railway. The campaign uncovered evidence that British Rail had mounted a dirty tricks campaign against the line,^[16] exaggerating the cost of repairs (£6 million for Ribblehead Viaduct alone)^[17] and diverting traffic away from the line in order to justify its closure plans, a process referred to asclosure by stealth.^[18]

Publicity over British Rail's tactics succeeded in a huge increase in traffic. Journeys per year were 93,000 in 1983 when the campaign began, rising to 450,000 by 1989.^[19] As late as August 1988, theBritish Rail Board posted notices stating they had appointedLazard Brothers to 'advise on the sale of the Settle–Carlisle line'.^[20] On 11 April 1989, theSecretary of State for Transport,Paul Channon, announced that consent for closure of the line and the associatedBlackburn-Hellifield line would be refused.^[19] This was on the basis that, firstly, trial repairs to one span of the Ribblehead Viaduct had shown that it would be cheaper to repair the whole structure than had previously been anticipated and, secondly, the increased ridership of the line.^[19] British Rail estimated that revenue on the line was 40% higher than in 1988-89.^[19] Subsequently, British Rail started to repair the deteriorating tunnels and viaducts.^[21]

In 2009, a statue of theborder collie Ruswarp (pronounced Russup) was sited on the platform of the refurbishedGarsdale railway station.^[22] The commemorative sculpture, funded by public subscription, was made by sculptorJoel Walker and cast inbronze. It celebrates the saving of the railway line which was coordinated by the Friends of the Settle to Carlisle Line, whose first secretary, Graham Nuttall, was a keenhillwalker; his dog Ruswarp signed the petition to save the line with his paw print.^[23] On 20 January 1990 Graham Nuttall had gone missing. He and Ruswarp had bought day return tickets from Burnley toLlandrindod Wells to go walking in the Welsh Mountains, but they never returned. Searches in the Elan Valley andRhayader found nothing until on 7 April 1990, a lone walker found Nuttall's body beside a stream. The 14-year-old Ruswarp was nearby, having stayed by his master's body for 11 weeks in winter weather; he was so weak that he had to be carried down the mountain. His veterinary fees were paid by theRSPCA, who awarded him their Animal Medallion and collar for 'vigilance' and Animal Plaque for 'intelligence and courage'. He died shortly after Nuttall's funeral.^[22]

Anglo-Scottish expresses have not been fully restored. The former regional franchiseeArriva Trains Northern initiated a twice daily Leeds–Glasgow Central service in 1999 (calling at Settle, Appleby, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Motherwell). The service was withdrawn at the behest of theStrategic Rail Authority in 2003,^[24] and there remains no link from Yorkshire or the East Midlands to Glasgow over the line. The link fromLancashire operates on Sundays during the summer months for the benefit of ramblers under the DalesRail brand.^[25] In recent years, due to congestion on the West Coast Main Line, much rail-freight traffic is using the S&C once again.Gypsum is transported fromHull Docks andDrax Power Station to the British Gypsum plasterboard factory atKirkby Thore,^[26] and coal was carried to power stations in Yorkshire and Fife from theHunterston coal terminal until 2016. Major engineering work was needed to upgrade the line to the standards required for such heavy freight traffic and additional investment made to reduce the length of signal sections.

In July 2009, work to stabilise a length of embankment near Kirkby Thore and remove a long-standing permanent speed restriction was undertaken.^[27]

As of 2013, the line has experienced an upturn in fortunes. Eight formerly closed stations have reopened and in 2012 1.2 million passenger journeys were recorded compared with just 90,000 in 1983.^[28]Ribblehead station features a special visitor centre. The line is an important diversionary route from the electrifiedWest Coast Main Line during engineering works. However, as the line is not electrified, electric trains such asPendolinos need to be hauled by diesel locomotives (typically aClass 57Thunderbird) along the diversion section.

In April 2014, the 25th anniversary of the line's reprieve was celebrated by the running of a special train from Leeds to Carlisle over the route. This conveyed many of the campaigners who fought to save the line and called at Settle station, where a ceremony was held to commemorate the announcement made on 11 April 1989 that the line would be kept open.Michael Portillo, the Minister of State with responsibility for railways in the Thatcher government of the time (and who made the official announcement regarding the line in parliament) attended the celebrations.^[29][30][31]

From April 2016,Arriva Rail North Ltd took over all passenger services on the line from the previous operator which was run bySerco & Abellio.^[32] As part of the new franchise agreement with the DfT, service improvements were implemented from the May 2018 timetable change with one extra weekday service each way and two extra trains each way on Sundays.^[33] Arriva also began work to install digital information screens and ticket machines at each station in early 2019. As from 1 March 2020, passenger services are now operated by the publicly run companyNorthern Trains, who have maintained this level of service.^[34]

In March 2020, it was discovered that the 144-year-old Ribblehead Viaduct required further major repairs. There were numerous defects to the masonry which had opened up, and pieces of debris had fallen off the edge.^[35] Alongside issues with the masonry there were fractures to the arches and piers, together with problems with the drainage system. Repair work was completed in April 2021 at a cost of around £2.1 million.^[36]

The line was blocked once again in October 2022, when the rear half of a northbound Clitheroe to Carlisle Yard freight train derailed as it was leaving the line at Petteril Bridge Junction, on the outskirts of Carlisle on Wednesday 19 October. Five of the fourteen tank wagons in the consist left the rails, damaging the track, signalling equipment and river bridge.^[37] The stranded wagons (one of which toppled into the river) were recovered in mid-November using a heavy lift crane, after which the bridge was repaired/reinforced and new track, points and signal cables were installed to replace those damaged in the accident. The line reopened to traffic on schedule on 7 December 2022.

Since theprivatisation of British Rail, the Settle and Carlisle line has proved to be popular with charter train operating companies likeWest Coast Railways, which operateexcursion trains usingsteam locomotives. Classes of LMS locomotive that have run over the line vary from express to mixed traffic, such asBlack Fives,Jubilees,Coronations,Princess Royals and even goods engines like the8Fs. Non-LMS engines that would never have worked on the line during the days of steam include4468Mallard,5043Earl of Mount Edgcumbe,5972Olton Hall,35018British India Line,60103Flying Scotsman and Britain's newest mainline steam locomotive60163Tornado.^[38]

Between 19 July and 9 September 2021, Rail Charter Services operated The Staycation Express, with the service running between Skipton, Settle, Appleby and Carlisle. Running four times a day, every day except Friday, this fully refurbished HST 125, features five, all first class coaches and offers travellers an alternative method of enjoying the route. Statesman Rail also run occasional services with restored Class 47 diesels and Pullman coaches.

In July 2015 it was announced that the stone quarries at Arcow andDry Rigg would be reconnected to the line via north-facing points. Stone from both of these quarries is in demand for road building due to its high Polished Stone Value (PSV) and would be taken out of theYorkshire Dales National Park by freight train instead of lorries.^[39][40] The work was undertaken during the last quarter of 2015 with the link opening to traffic in 2016.^[41][42] Work is currently (April 2025) under way to reconnect the neighbouringHorton Quarry, via relaid sidings immediately south ofHorton-in-Ribblesdale station, which were last used in the early 1980s.^[43]

The winter of 2015–16 saw services over the route repeatedly disrupted by flooding and a seriouslandslip north ofArmathwaite.Storm Desmond saw the line closed for several days at the beginning of December by flooding at several different locations, while the landslip at Eden Brows near Armathwaite resulted in the closure of the southbound line between Cumwhinton andCulgaith from 29 January 2016 to allow the damagedembankment to be inspected and stabilised. Problems had first been reported in mid-December 2015, but repairs were carried out and services resumed on 22 December.^[44] Single-line working was in place for several days over the northbound line while the remedial work continued and an emergency timetable was in operation.^[45] Further ground movement at the site (due to the base of the embankment being eroded by the river and the saturated nature of the fill material originally used to construct the embankment) led to the complete closure of the line between Appleby & Carlisle on 9 February 2016, with buses replacing trains over this section.^[46] Repairs to the affected section entailed building a 100m-long piled retaining wall and support platform for the track and stabilising the embankment beneath it; work began in July 2016 and was completed in March 2017.^[47] The line between Appleby and Armathwaite was reopened to traffic on 27 June 2016 on a temporary timetable;^[48] the repair project was estimated to cost £23 million.^[49] In February 2017, to celebrate the forthcoming reopening of the line on 31 March, scheduled trains drawn by60163Tornado ran in February, the first regular mainline scheduled service in England using steam for more than half a century.^[50][51] The service carried more than 5,500 passengers during its three days of operation.^[52]

In March 2017, work on the piled wall and trackbed at Eden Brows was completed and the work site was handed back to Network Rail, allowing the infrastructure operator to recommission and test the track and signalling system over the affected section ahead of the reopening date. On 31 March 2017 LNER Class A3 PacificNo. 60103Flying Scotsman operated a special trip to Carlisle and back to celebrate the full opening to traffic.^[53]

Passenger services are usually operated byClass 158Diesel Multiple Units.Class 150 units have also been used occasionally in the past^[54] (as substitutes for the booked 158s) since a batch of the units were transferred to Northern Rail from London Midland in the autumn of 2011. These are also used on the weekend "Yorkshire Dales Explorer" services fromRochdale viaManchester Victoria andBlackburn, along withClass 156 units (this twice-daily service to/from Ribblehead replaced the Sundays-only "DalesRail" service in June 2024).Class 153 single-car units were also used on the line up until 2021, but are no longer in service with the operator.

• Settle Junction – the start of the line. Site of the junction with theLeeds to Morecambe Line and a short-lived (1876–77) passenger station.
• Settle
  • Taitlands Tunnel (now called Stainforth Tunnel)
• Horton in Ribblesdale
• Ribblehead – here is theRibblehead Viaduct (originally namedBatty Moss Viaduct) 440 yd (396 m), with 24 piers
  • Blea Moor – here is Blea Moor signal box and loop. Blea Moor signal box is the remotest signal box in England^[55]
  • Blea Moor Tunnel 2629 yd (2366 m) long
  • here are theDent Head &Arten Gill viaducts.
• Dent (4.5 miles outside the village ofDent)
  • Rise Hill Tunnel
  • Dent is the highest railway station in England.
  • here wasHawes Junction engine shed
• Garsdale – originally namedHawes Junction thenHawes Junction & Garsdale.
  • At Hawes station, on the Hawes branch to the east of the main line, there was an end-on-junction with theNorth Eastern Railway (NER) line across thePennines toNorthallerton (now theWensleydale Railway).
  • here isDandry Mire Viaduct
  • here were the highest water troughs in the United Kingdom. Steam locomotives were able to pick up water from these troughs whilst still moving.
  • On the next stretch, there were three tunnels (Moorcock Tunnel,Shotlock Hill Tunnel andBirkett Tunnel).
  • On this stretch also was the summit of the line at Ais Gill, 1169 ft (350 m) ASL. From 1954, the summit was marked by a vitreous enamel sign.^[56]
• Kirkby Stephen - There were two stations here, one (Kirkby Stephen West) for the Midland line andKirkby Stephen East for the NER (the latter's line fromDarlington toTebay). The two stations are about half a mile apart. The Midland station also served the village ofRavenstonedale
• Crosby Garrett (closed 1952)
• Ormside (closed 1952)
• Appleby – as with Kirkby Stephen, there were separate stations for the Midland (Appleby West) and NE lines (Appleby East), with a siding connection. The NE line was the branch known as theEden Valley Railway between Kirkby Stephen andEden Valley Junction on the West Coast Line nearClifton
• Long Marton (closed 1970)
• New Biggin (closed 1970)
• Culgaith (closed 1970)
  • there are two tunnels between these stations
• Langwathby
• Little Salkeld (closed 1970)
  • here isLazonby Tunnel
• Lazonby andKirkoswald
  • there are three more tunnels between these two stations
• Armathwaite
• Cotehill (closed 1952)
• Cumwhinton (closed 1956)
• Scotby (closed 1942 – not the same station as that of the same name on the adjoiningTyne Valley line)
• Petterill Bridge Junction – junction with the Newcastle – Carlisle line and the end of Midland Railway metals.
• Carlisle: the station – full titleCarlisle Citadel – was owned jointly by the LNWR and theCaledonian Railway: the Midland (among others) was a "tenant Company".

• 1910 –Hawes Junction rail crash; 12 killed, 17 injured.
• 1913 –Ais Gill rail accident (1913); 16 killed, 38 injured.
• 1918 –Little Salkeld rail accident; 7 killed.
• 1930 –Culgaith rail accident; 2 killed, 8 injured.
• 1933 –Little Salkeld station collision; 1 killed, 35 injured.^[57]
• 1952 –Blea Moor derailment 34 injured.^[58]
• 1960 –Settle rail crash; 5 killed, 8 injured.
• 1968 – Horton rail crash; Major damage, no fatalities; 2 injured.^[59]
• 1995 –Ais Gill rail accident (1995); 1 killed.
• 1999 –Crosby Garrett rail accident.

The line is featured inMicrosoft Train Simulator, which depicts the line as it was in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and in modern-day forDovetail Games'Train Simulator.

Trainz Railway Simulator has a Settle & Carlisle package modelled on the line under British Railways ownership in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In 1983,Border Television released a film documentary named 'Steam on the Settle & Carlisle'.^[60] It featured a trip from Carlisle to Settle on the "Cumbrian Mountain Express" hauled byLNER A4Sir Nigel Gresley (at the time in its LNER livery and number 4498).SR West Country classCity of Wells andSR class LNLord Nelson also made appearances towards the end, whileLMS Princess Coronation Class 6229Duchess of Hamilton (in un-streamlined form) was seen at the start and towards the end. In March 2016 a fifty-minute colour documentary "The Long Drag", made in 1962-3 by the Halifax Cinema Club was released for free viewing on the British Film Institute website^[61] The British Film Institute website also hosts a 1985 Yorkshire Television documentary "The End of the Line" which is free to view online.^[62]

• Abbott, Stan and Whitehouse, Alan (1994) [first published 1990]The line that refused to die. Hawes: Leading Edge.ISBN 0-948135-43-3
• Baughan P E (1966)The Midland Railway North of Leeds
• Houghton F W & Foster W H (1948)The Story of the Settle – Carlisle line.
• Towler J (1990)The Battle for the Settle & Carlisle Platform 5 Publishing, SheffieldISBN 1-872524-07-9
• Williams F S (1875, reprinted 1968)Williams' Midland Railway

• Clarke, John (March 1966). "Outpost of the Midland: Blea Moor near the summit of the 'long drag' over the Pennines from Settle".Railway Magazine. Vol. 112, no. 779. pp. 134–136.
• Crome, Philip E. (October 1982). "Outlook Bleak!".Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. pp. 34–37.ISSN 0262-561X.OCLC 49957965.
• Fox, Peter (November 1984). "The S&C a suitable case for treatment".Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. pp. 36–40.ISSN 0262-561X.OCLC 49957965.
• Whitehead, Alan (December 1981 – January 1982). "New worries over Settle–Carlisle".Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. pp. 10–11.ISSN 0262-561X.OCLC 49957965.
• Whitehouse, Alan (February–March 1982). "New Settle–Carlisle controversy".Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. p. 47.ISSN 0262-561X.OCLC 49957965.
• Whitehouse, Alan (February 1983). "Dales rail stations cling to life – but for how much longer?".Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. p. 46.ISSN 0262-561X.OCLC 49957965.
• Whitehouse, Alan; Brown, Murray (July 1988). "Settle & Carlisle: Sentence of death or enlightened reprieve?".RAIL. No. 82. EMAP National Publications. pp. 6–7.ISSN 0953-4563.OCLC 49953699.
• "Scenic Settle & Carlisle line enjoys freight boom".RAIL. No. 318. EMAP Apex Publications. 19 November – 2 December 1997. p. 42.ISSN 0953-4563.OCLC 49953699.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSettle to Carlisle Line.

• Settle–Carlisle Partnership – timetables, online secure shop, route guides and the latest news, plus information about FoSCL
• Friends of the Settle–Carlisle Line (FoSCL) – information, recent news and events, guided walks and membership information
• Friends of DalesRail – Free guided walks from the Settle–Carlisle railway
• A history of the Mallerstang section of the line, and a commemoration of those who died during its construction, and in three accidents in this dale
• Images and information of each railway station
• Report on the attempt to close the line and the campaign to keep it open.Archived 22 August 2010 at theWayback Machine
• Time Team: Blood, Sweat and Beers – Rise Hill, Cumbria
• Settle to Carlisle update – February 2016. Network Rail video on the 2016 landslip at Eden Brows
• Eden Brows Landslip – Contractor video on the status of repair works at Eden Brows in July 2016

54°31′01″N2°27′22″W / 54.517°N 2.456°W /54.517; -2.456

• Rail transport in North Yorkshire
• Yorkshire Dales
• Rail transport in Cumbria
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