Garsdale to Hawes

Starting Point - Garsdale Station. Finishing Point - Former Hawes Station. Distance 7 Miles.

Google Map

Garsdale station is one of the more remote stops on the Settle & Carlisle Railway, prior to the building of the line there were just a few houses and farms in the area with a small settlement known as Clough nearby. Garsdale gained a station as it was the junction with a 6 mile branch to Hawes, in fact the station began life with the name Hawes Junction. At Hawes the Midland Railway's branch from Garsdale met the North Eastern Railway's Wensleydale branch. Through passenger trains were generally operated by the NER with the exception of a daily train between Hawes and Hellifield further south on the Midland route. The closure of the route pre-dates the infamous Beeching cuts with the former North Eastern passenger services discontinued in 1954 and the token former Midland service ending in 1959. The line closed to goods as far as Redmire on the former NER route in 1964, between Redmire and Northallerton it remained in use for stone traffic and military traffic in to recent years resulting in that part of the route being preserved as the Wensleydale Railway.

The Wensleydale Railway aim to eventually extend westwards towards Garsdale, there have also been recent proposals to reopen Garsdale to Hawes to make a useful railway connection to the popular tourist destination. Details of this, together with a lot more information on the route can be found on the Upper Wensleydale Railway website.

Rail Map Online view

The old maps covering Garsdale to Hawes are a smaller scale than the ones I usually use due to what maps are available online. The route is split across two pages. On map 1 Garsdale, or rather Hawes Junction is at the top left of the page and Hawes is at the middle right, a little bit of the route goes off the top of map 1 and on to the bottom of map 2.

1896 Map (1) 1895 Map (2)

Opened in 1876 Hawes Junction station greatly increased the population of the area as 16 railway cottages were provided for railway workers, these survive as the private houses seen alongside the Carlisle bound platform. Like other railway housing built along the route the buildings used local stone but their design was more like that of the railway cottages built in Derby than the existing housing of the Yorkshire Dales. A small Methodist chapel was also built close to the Dandry Mire Viaduct just north of the station, this also still survives. A turntable was provided for turning locomotives arriving from the Wensleydale line, this survives but at Keighley on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The turntable pit can be seen on the Google map satellite images (or by switching Rail Map Online to show Satellite images), in winter when the vegetation is thin it can be seen from passing trains but the site is not accessible. Also still to be seen north of the station before crossing the viaduct are the sidings on the east side of the Carlisle line which still survive and the embankment of the former Wensleydale line curving off towards Hawes.

On the southbound platform a statue of the dog Ruswarp remembers the dog who waited by the body of his master (Graham Nuttall; one of the campaigners who fought for the line to stay open) for 11 weeks until he was found. The platform was once an island platform with lines either side. At the back of the building on the platform was once the platform for trains to Hawes and beyond.

Below - The building on the platform at Garsdale showing where the platform for Wensleydale line trains once stood. Note the blocked up doorways.

Below - A Northern service crossing Dandry Mire Viaduct. Looking throuch the arches the embankment of the Wensleydale branch can be seen.

This is sadly not an old railway walk, it would make a great one if it was. The trackbed to Hawes is not accessible, though there have also been schemes to make it so lately. Instead my route to Hawes had to follow the A684 which roughly parallels the former railway route on the north side most of the way. I also travelled by bicycle as a practical way of getting around other sights in the area on a two day break. On the way I stopped off at some of the sights along the route. 

Passing the chapel on the right and passing under the railway another group of railway cottages can be seen, these were built a short time after those next to the station. The Moorcock Inn also survives, I called there on my way back to Garsdale.

With the railway on the right hand side it goes from cutting to embankment as the road follows the contours of the land. Two bridges survive, one for Moorland Cottage and one for a stream, the former railway then curves south and in to Mossdale Tunnel. the tunnel and subsequent Mossdale Viaduct survive. Mossdale Viaduct can be seen from public bridalways that cross under it. I didn't check out Mossdale Viaduct, with the railway running further south from the road I picked up the trackbed again at Appersett. Leaving the A684 on Lanacar Lane, this road passes under Appersett Viaduct.

Below - A short detour off the road was the water fall Cotter Force.

Below - An old lime kiln seen on the right hand side of the road approaching Appersett.

Below - Appersett Viaduct.

Approaching Hawes the railway crossed over the road on a bridge which has now been removed, a caravan park occupies the trackbed on the left hand (east) side of the road at this point. The line ran to the north of Hawes on an embankment which survives.

Below - The embankment taking the railway past Hawes to the north on the approach to the former station, this view was from the car park next to the Post Office.

The station site also survives and is now occupied by the Dales Countryside Museum. Displays are in the former goods shed and an adjoining modern building as well as in a few railway carriages in the former westbound platform. The loco is painted to represent a British Railways engine but is in fact a former industrial loco.

Below - The former Hawes station. Note that although the buildings are of Midland Railway design similar to those on the Settle & Carlisle Line they are painted in the blue colour of BR's Eastern Region rather than the maroon of the Midland region.

Below - The entrance to the station, now a bike shop and cafe. The museum entrance is on the right.

Below - The former goods shed.

Also at the station site the former station master's house survives, now a private residence.

After a visit to the museum my first day at Hawes included a visit to one of the other top tourist attractions, the Wensleydale Creamery where Wensleydale cheese is made.

Day Two included a walk up Great Shunner Fell, the third highest peak in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I cycled to Hardraw where I locked up my bike and continued on foot on the Pennine Way. The footpath largely follows what the old maps (map 2) show as the Hearne Coal Road. Evidence can be seen of the bell pits once used to extract coal that would have been used by several other local industries.

Further details of the 10 Mile walk can be found on the All Trails website.

Below - Former pit shafts on the way up Great Shunner Fell.

Below - View of Ingleborough and Whernside from the top of Great Shunner Fell, the three highest peaks of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in one shot.

After walking back to Hardraw and retrieving my bike I picked up the A684 north of Appersett via the road named Below Hill and returned to Garsdale station. With a bit of time to wait for a train and a bit of a thirst from the walking I called in at the Moorcock Inn for a Wensleydale Brewery beer.