Today there is still a great viaduct in Ingleton which ought to be carrying the best, most direct and relatively low-lying main line from West Yorkshire to Scotland. Instead it is trackless and a memorial to the sheer obstinacy of two determined railway companies that indulged in constant rivalry and cast reasoning to one side. They made Ingleton a frontier between their empires with the viaduct forming a tenuous link connecting separate stations at either end. It was more akin to the situation still to be found in third-world countries that put politics before the needs of passengers.
The saga of how the Midland Railway failed in its bid to create a main line through Ingleton and was instead forced to build the magnificent but unnecessary Settle to Carlisle line has been told countless times. The inter-company wrangling that lasted more than twenty years forms the theme of a detailed article by Michael S. Elton in the June 2012 Backtrack. What has received for less attention is the fate of railways serving Ingleton that were left to lapse into obscurity once the Midland got its main line over the Pennines to Carlisle. The purpose of this article is briefly to outline the historical background and then portray a picture of gradual decline and ultimate demise.
Optimistic beginnings
The starting point is the North Western Railway, always nicknamed the ‘Little’ North Western to avoid confusion with the London & North Western Railway which styled itself the ‘Premier Line’. It was farmed at the peak of the ‘railway mania’ in June 1846 to build a main line from Skipton via Settle and Ingleton to Low Gill. Here it would link up with the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway, which was about to be opened as a crucial part of the West Coast Route from London Euston to Glasgow. There would also be a branch from Clapham, four miles short of Ingleton, to Lancaster.
Hard times following the “railway mania’ farced a rethink. Heavy engineering work was involved between Clapham and Low Gill, with major viaducts needed not just in crossing the Greta gorge at Ingleton but also further north beyond Sedbergh. Following advice from Robert Stephenson, it was decided to concentrate on construction between Clapham and Lancaster so that there would at least be an indirect link with the West Coast route. Owing to the amount of work undertaken between Clapham and the east side of the Greta gorge, this section would be completed and would become a short branch.
The North Western Railway accordingly had its formal opening from Skipton to Ingleton on 26th July 1849. Celebrations began at the Ingleton end, where an eye-witness at the temporary wooden station left a vivid account of the proceedings. He first noted that the viaduct over the Greta had its piers raised a few feet above the water but the staging indicated its ultimate height. At the station the first load of coke had already
