Carlisle-Settle-Preston

It’s Wednesday morning around 9:00 and I’m at Carlisle station.

AWS didn’t manage to make his proposed rail journey down to Preston because of cancellations. Hongkonger has done rather better. The train at platform 3 is due out at 0923 and will get down to Preston via Settle and Hellifield and Clitheroe. AWS previous articles tell the story of this curious route. The diversion away from the West Coast main line via Lancaster is due to a very substantial replacement bridge being installed across the M6 motorway close to Penrith. As a result the hybrid Avanti train (no electric on the Settle/Carlisle section) will travel through some glorious landscape into the Yorkshire Dales through Appleby, Dent and the very famous Ribblehead viaduct.

So onto the train. The two of us have booked seats in standard class for the outward journey and have a flask of coffee and snacks. I bought a flask some 6 or 7 years ago when I was travelling fairly regularly from Carlisle to Glasgow. Trans Pennine Express trains were at the time charging £2.50 for a coffee from the trolley which was made with a sachet of Nescafé instant coffee. A stainless steel flask from Asda cost £5 and so paid for itself after just one return journey. Flasks are good.

The train leaves Carlisle 1 minute late and heads down the upper Eden valley. This is a lovely stretch and somewhat underrated. The red sandstone buildings around Armathwaite in particular help to shape a distinctive landscape. There is a red sandstone bridge over the River Eden just north of Lazonby station which is as fine a piece of rural architecture as you will see anywhere.


The carriage is surprisingly empty – only about a dozen or so passengers. A little surprising since I expected a few more enthusiasts. It is cloudy but dry with a mere hint of blue sky so the view from the train – at least for now – is worthwhile. Near Langwathby the snow-draped peak of Helvellyn, some twenty miles away, is visible. The train heads on through Appleby and Kirby Stephen into the heavy-duty Dales. This is the territory of limestone pavement, of Dentdale, of Ribblehead and its viaduct, of Ingleborough. The clouds are dropping, though, particularly to the East and the higher Pennines. Beyond this onto Settle, 74 miles from Carlisle and the end of the famous tourist route.

But the train continues to Hellifield and then … well, it goes off piste along a freight-only line to Clitheroe. I thought this might be another part of the attraction for the enthusiasts – a journey along an out-of-bounds stretch of line – though there were some 15 observers at Hellifield station, all with phones or serious cameras. Mainly men, but I think 3 women. The line to Clitheroe is not without appeal – under Pendle Hill and past an odd old mill and a vacated canal basin. Not far beyond is Whalley, the substantial and impressive ruined abbey in full view from the train as it traverses another substantial viaduct.


And then through unremarkable small commuter towns, notably a grim-looking Blackburn, for half an hour to Preston. We have two and a half hours in Preston before the return journey. That’s probably an hour and a half too much, at least on a steel grey January day. We visited the recently redesigned Harris gallery – ok, but overemphasis on participation at the cost of learning and scholarship. In other words, a standard redesign these days. The Victorian building housing the exhibits is beautiful and worth seeing just for that.


Back at the station to find that the carriages are labelled LMNPJ. What? The return leg starts exactly 30 minutes late. Delay Repay compensation means that this will contribute something to a beer on the way back, except that we are booked in first anyway.
First class involves some comfort and indeed some refreshment.

A pleasant chap obliges with a pastrami roll, sausages and mash, a can of IPA, red wine etc. It is rather good to have views of Ribblesdale from a mobile dining room. A good offering. The views are diminished on the way back because the train is now 40 minutes late and the daylight has faded – a shame because the earlier clouds have lifted. But it has been a good day – a ‘one off’ day over some familiar territory (and some unfamiliar) on a remarkably quiet and comfortable train.

A comment on the photographs – the train ran non-stop from Carlisle to Preston, so any photos had to be taken while the train was moving. The only odd signal stops were more towards Preston, where the landscape was rather less interesting. Ah well.
 

© Hongkonger 2026