One of my small daily pleasures is hearing the station announcements for the trains to Carlisle.  As the train travels westwards it moves across a period of early British history: from the Saxon villages of Shipley, Bingley and Keighley across the dales (valleys) to the Viking world of  ‘by’, ‘kirk’ and ‘thwaite’.  Beyond Long Preston, of course, this is the famous Settle-Carlisle Railway which runs along some of the highest, wildest and most beautiful parts of England.  The wildness and beauty of the landscape is echoed by the names of the stations from the cosiness of the Yorkshire towns and villages to the remoteness of Cumbria.

Stations to Carlisle

Shipley
Bingley
Keighley
Skipton
Gargrave
Hellifield
Long Preston
Settle
Horton-in-Ribblesdale
Ribblehead
Dent
Garsdale
Kirkby Stephen
Appleby
Langwathby
Lazonby and Kirkoswald
Armathwaite
Carlisle

‘Settle to Carlisle Railway’

by Mike Donald, performed by Robbie Ellis