Dent railway station

Dent National Rail
Location
Place Dent
Local authority South Lakeland
Coordinates 54°16′55″N 2°21′47″W / 54.282°N 2.363°W / 54.282; -2.363Coordinates: 54°16′55″N 2°21′47″W / 54.282°N 2.363°W / 54.282; -2.363
Grid reference SD764874
Operations
Station code DNT
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 10,558
2011/12 Increase 10,852
2012/13 Decrease 10,440
2013/14 Decrease 9,742
2014/15 Decrease 9,054
History
Original company Midland Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
6 August 1877 Opened[1]
4 May 1970 Closed[1]
14 July 1986 Reopened[1]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dent from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Dent railway station serves the villages of Cowgill and Dent in Cumbria, England. It is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services; it is situated 51 miles (82 km) northwest of Leeds.

Location

Dent village is approximately 4.8 miles (8 km) by road to the west, and 400 ft (120 m) below the height of the station, with Cowgill being the nearest small village, located around half a mile away.

Altitude sign, preserved gas lamp and wooden snow fence at rear

At an altitude of 1,150 ft (350 m) and situated between Blea Moor Tunnel and Rise Hill Tunnel immediately to its north, Dent is the highest operational railway station on the National Rail network in England. Dent Station buildings are now privately owned and are available to rent as holiday cottage accommodation.[2] During the 1970s the station was rented out to Barden school in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for up to 15 pupils whilst they carried out various courses ranging from pot holing, caving, to geology and map reading.

There are stone-built passenger waiting rooms provided on both the northbound and southbound platforms. Access to the southbound platform is, somewhat unusually, by an unguarded barrow crossing at the south end of the station for foot passengers to use with care (a 30 mph permanent speed restriction for non-stop trains through the station is enforced for this reason). Disabled passengers should not use the southbound platform without assistance.[3] Like most stations on the line, there are no ticket machines available and so travellers must buy on the train. Train running information can be obtained by telephones on the platforms or from information posters.

Old wooden snow fences are still in place on the eastern side of the station (see image).

Services

Dent station (right) with passenger crossing (centre) over the main line

Dent railway station is on the historic Settle-Carlisle Line, with services to Leeds and Carlisle. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders[4] and opened in 1877 and originally closed in May 1970 but was reopened by British Rail in 1986 following a campaign to maintain regular stopping services along the line.

On weekdays there are five trains in each direction, with six each way on Saturdays and three each way on Sundays.[5] In addition, DalesRail services operate on summer Sundays from Blackpool North and Preston to Carlisle, with one journey in each direction.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 78. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
  2. "Dent Station on the Settle to Carlisle Railway". Retrieved 5 February 2008.
  3. Dent station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 28 November 2016
  4. "Notes by the Way.". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  5. GB eNRT, December 2015 Edition, Table 42
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dent railway station.
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Ribblehead   Northern
Settle-Carlisle Line
  Garsdale
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