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Simplon - The Passenger Ship Website -
www.simplonpc.co.uk
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Wensleydale Railway Garsdale - Hawes - Aysgarth - Bedale - Northallerton All images link to larger copies which will open in a new window/tab |
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This page shows images of the Wensleydale Railway in
North Yorkshire. It originally ran from Northallerton to Hawes for the North
Eastern Railway, connecting at Hawes with the Midland branch from Garsdale
providing an East-West link across the country.
The line reopened in 2003 and runs between Leeming Bar and Redmire, a distance of 16 miles according to railway publicity - Wikipedia claims it is 17.5 miles (29km). There are plans to open a new section from Leeming Bar to Northallerton West this year, increasing the running length to 22 miles (35km) (ref: Wiki), making it the third longest preserved railway in the UK. There are further ambitions to eventually reach Garsdale on the Settle-Carlisle line, which would require laying new track and considerable civil engineering works. When I travelled there had been a landslip which shortened possible travel in the Redmire direction, but the train (a DMU) did also travel in the opposite direction to the proposed Northallerton West station site and back to make up for the loss. Less than half the usual fare was charged for this curtailed run. The line operates most days between April and October plus weekends and holidays in winter. A two-train service runs at peak periods. The railway owns no steam locos but has hired the NELPG J72 in the past. The original line between Northallerton and Garsdale was opened in stages: Northallerton to Leeming Bar (in 1848); Leeming Bar to Bedale (in 1855); Bedale to Leyburn (in 1855 for freight traffic and in 1856 for passenger traffic); Leyburn to Askrigg (in 1877); Askrigg to Hawes and Garsdale to Hawes (both in 1878). The section from Northallerton to Hawes became part of the North Eastern Railway and the section from Hawes to Garsdale became part of the Midland Railway. The line between Northallerton and Hawes closed to passengers in 1954 and the line between Hawes and Garsdale closed to all traffic in 1959. The line between Redmire and Hawes was closed completely in 1964 and subsequently lifted. However, some Dalesrail excursion trains ran between Redmire and York in the 1970s and occasional charter trains ran to Redmire. With the exception of goods trains serving the quarry near Redmire, freight traffic on the remaining portion of line ceased in 1982. Goods trains to Redmire ceased in 1992. At this point, the future of the remaining line looked bleak. However, the Wensleydale Railway Association (WRA) was formed in 1990 with the main aim of restoring passenger services. When British Rail decided to try to sell the line between Northallerton and Redmire following cessation of the quarry trains to Redmire, the WRA decided to take a more proactive role and aimed to operate passenger services itself. A surprising but positive development was the Ministry of Defence (MoD) indicating an interest in using the line between Northallerton and Redmire to transport armoured vehicles to/from Catterick Garrison. This plan went ahead with the MoD paying for repairs and restoration of the line and the installation of loading facilities at Redmire, and in addition the MoD did not object to WRC taking over the line. These military transport trains continue to this day. (ref: Wiki) For more information see:- www.wensleydalerail.com |
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