Garsdalerailway station is a railway station which serves the immediate hamlet of Garsdale Head, Cumbria, England, together with the valley of Garsdale and the nearby towns of Sedbergh, Cumbria and Hawes, North Yorkshire. The station is owned by Network Rail and is operated byNorthern who provide all passenger train services. It is situated north of Leeds. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders, though not in the same style as used elsewhere on the route. Adjoining the station are sixteen Railway Cottages built for its employees by the Midland Railway around 1876, the year the Settle-Carlisle Line opened. A further six cottages were added near to the Moorcock Inn soon afterwards. In the days of steam-hauled London-Scotland expresses, the locality once boasted the highest water troughs in the world. Unusually, the station waiting room was once used for Anglican church services, and the railway turntable had a wall of sleepers built around it to prevent locomotives being spun by strong winds: this happened in 1900 and was the inspiration for the story 'Tenders and Turntables' in the book 'Troublesome Engines' in The Railway Series by Rev W. Awdry. The Hawes Junction rail crash of 1910 occurred near to the station, which was originally named Hawes Junction, as it was the junction of a branch line to. This line was closed inMarch 1959, though it is the long-term aim of the Wensleydale Railway to extend their rails along the former route from Redmire to connect with services here, allowing through journeys to Northallerton on the East Coast Main Line. The signal box on the northbound platform is still in use today.
Facilities
The station is unstaffed, but waiting rooms are available on each platform. They are linked by a ramped subway and are therefore fully accessible for disabled travellers. Tickets must be bought in advance or on the train as no ticket machines are available. Train running information can be obtained from timetable posters or by phone from the station signal box. A bus service to and from Hawes connects with selected train departures each day.
Signal box
The signal box, a 4c type as designed and built by the Midland Railway Company, was installed in June 1910 and is made from timber with a Welsh slate roof. It was given grade II listed status in 2013. The box was significant in the 1910 Hawes Junction crash, which led to the introduction of track circuits to prevent that type of tragedy happening again. Its heritage status was awarded partly due to its involvement in the accident. In June 2020, Network Rail applied to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to carry out repairs on the decaying structure.
Services
Garsdale has seen a modest improvement in service levels in recent years, with an extra morning and evening service in each direction. This brings the service level up to that seen at various other stations on the route, namely eight northbound and seven southbound trains on weekdays and Saturdays, and five each way on Sundays. The station is also served by DalesRail trains between Blackpool North/Preston and Carlisle on Sundays during the summer.
Statue of Ruswarp
The southbound platform features a life-size bronze statue of a Border Collie dog named Ruswarp. Ruswarp belonged to Graham Nuttall, one of the founding members of the group that saved the Settle-Carlisle Railway from closure. The dog was featured in the campaign, signing the petition to save the line with a paw-print. Nuttall disappeared while walking with Ruswarp in the Welsh Mountains on 20 January 1990. His body was found on 7 April; Ruswarp was still alive after standing guard over his owner's body for 11 weeks and died shortly after attending the funeral. The sculpture by Joel Walker is a memorial to both Graham Nuttall, Ruswarp and the campaign to save the line from closure. It was unveiled on 11 April 2009, 20 years after the line was saved from closure. The station waiting rooms, previously out of use due to leaking roofs, were also refurbished and reopened to the public as part of the ceremony.
