A special event will be held at Garsdale Station this month to mark 40 years since the station reopened to regular passenger services on the Settle-Carlisle Railway.
While 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the iconic railway line, organisers are also celebrating another milestone – the reopening of Garsdale and seven other stations in 1986, three years before the campaign to save the line from closure was finally won.
Visitors are invited to Garsdale Station between 11am and 3pm on Tuesday, July 14, where members of the Friends of Garsdale Station will be on hand to share the story of the successful campaign to save the railway. Free steam train posters will be available, alongside historical displays in the station’s waiting rooms.
Rail photographer and Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line vice-president Pete Shaw said: “Garsdale, along with seven other Settle-Carlisle stations, was re-opened by BR for regular stopping passenger train services in 1986, now forty years ago. Thus it was actually during the closure proposal that the stations gained a new lease of life.”
He added: “Sixteen years of decay meant a lot of refurbishment work was needed,” explaining how volunteers spent three years restoring the station after British Rail gave permission for repairs under its Local Station Adoption Scheme.
The event will also celebrate the famous Ruswarp statue on the southbound platform. The bronze memorial honours the devoted border collie belonging to Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line co-founder Graham Nuttall, whose paw print was famously accepted as a valid objection to British Rail’s closure proposals.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their dogs for a photograph beside the statue, while organisers will also be sharing information about the Friends’ guided walks programme and the Hawes-Garsdale shuttle bus service, which is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this month.
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