Dent railway station

Dent village is approximately 4.8 miles (8 km) by road to the west, and 400 ft (120 m) below the height of the station, with Cowgill being the nearest small village, located around half a mile away.

Altitude sign, preserved gas lamp and wooden snow fence at rear

At an altitude of 1,150 ft (350 m) 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. Dent Station buildings are now privately owned and are available to rent as holiday cottage accommodation.[3] During the 1970s the station was rented out to Barden school in Burnley as an outdoor pursuits centre, providing accommodation for up to 15 pupils whilst they carried out various courses ranging from pot holing, caving, to geology and map reading.

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 with care (a 30 mph permanent speed restriction for non-stop trains through the station is enforced for this reason). Disabled passengers should not use the southbound platform without assistance.[4] 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, though as of November 2019 these have yet to be commissioned.

Old wooden snow fences are still in place on the eastern side of the station (see image).

Route 7: Bentham Line and Settle & Carlisle Line
Carlisle Armathwaite Lazonby and Kirkoswald Langwathby Appleby Kirkby Stephen Garsdale Dent Ribblehead Horton-in-Ribblesdale Settle Heysham Port Morecambe Bare Lane Lancaster Carnforth Wennington Bentham Clapham Giggleswick Long Preston Hellifield Gargrave Skipton Keighley Bingley Shipley Leeds

Dent station (right) with passenger crossing (centre) over the main line

Dent railway station is on the historic Settle-Carlisle Line, with services to Leeds and Carlisle. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders[5] 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.

On weekdays there were formerly five trains in each direction, with six each way on Saturdays and three each way on Sundays.[6] In addition, DalesRail services operate 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 six each way (including the DalesRail service) on Sundays.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dent railway station.

• Train times and station information for Dent railway station from National Rail
• "Dent in the 1950s" — Station Master's account of work and life at the station
• Dent Station accommodation website with history and pictures

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ribblehead		Northern Settle-Carlisle Line		Garsdale