Dent railway station

Dent is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between Carlisle and Leeds via Settle. The station, situated 58 mi northwest of Leeds, serves the villages of Cowgill and Dent, South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. It is the highest operational main line station in England.

Location
Dent railway station is on the historic Settle-Carlisle Line, with services to Leeds and Carlisle. Dent village is approximately 4.8 mi by road to the west, and 400 ft below the height of the station, with Cowgill being the nearest small village, located around half a mile away but at the foot of a steep (maximum 20% or 1 in 5) spiral access road. At an altitude of 1150 ft 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.

Facilities
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 (a 30 mph permanent speed restriction for non-stop trains through the station is enforced for this reason). National Rail recommends that disabled passengers not use the southbound platform without assistance. Like most stations on the line, there are no ticket machines available as yet (though Northern have stated they plan to provide one here) and so travellers must buy on the train. Train running information can be obtained by telephones on the platforms or from information posters. New digital information screens have also been installed here.

Old wooden snow fences are still in place on the eastern side of the station (see image). Dent Station buildings are now privately owned and are available to rent as holiday cottage accommodation.

History
The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders 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. Initial consideration had been given to siting a station for the valley at Dent Head, further to the south and adjacent to the road running over Gayle Moor towards Hawes and Ingleton, but this was ruled out (in favour of the current location), as it would have been nearly twice as far from Dent village.

During the 1970s the station was rented out to Barden school in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for pupils whilst they carried out various courses ranging from pot holing, caving, to geology and map reading.

Services
On weekdays there were formerly five trains in each direction, with six each way on Saturdays and three each way on Sundays. In addition, DalesRail services operated on summer Sundays from Blackpool North and Preston to Carlisle, with one journey in each direction. Northbound trains terminated at either Appleby or Armathwaite until the end of March 2017, as the Armathwaite to Carlisle section was closed whilst the damaged embankment at Eden Brows was repaired. Services through to the terminus at Carlisle resumed on 31 March 2017. Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service has increased to eight northbound and six southbound calls on weekdays and five each way on Sundays.