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dougalsservant and I decided we should do on our holiday was travel on the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line. This line travels through some beautiful scenery, over viaducts and through tunnels - but was threatened, some years ago with closure.
We finally got to do this on our last day, after the visit to the falconry centre. We decided not to travel all the way to Carlisle, but to do the most scenic part of the line and travel as far as Appleby, and then get the next down train, about ten minutes later, back to Settle. Although it didn't quite work out like that...
We drove over the hills from Hawes to the small market town of Ingleton - these pictures give you some idea of the scenery -
Isn't that hill on the right an interesting shape?
The road goes under the railway line - just at the head of the Ribble Valley, site of the famous Ribblehead viaduct which we would cross on the train a little later. It gives a good opportunity to take pictures of the viaduct -
So - now to Settle station. It is so like a railway station on a train set, even though it is part of the national rail network. Actually all the stations on the line are like something out of a story book.
This is the main building - the ticket office and down-line waiting room -
Wheras this is the small waiting room on the up platform -
And this is a corner of the up platform -
The train was an ordinary multiple diesel unit, and I didn't take any pictures from it - just gazed out at the scenery - it really is a beautiful trip.
When we reached Appleby, however, we had more time than we expected to look around the station - the down train was delayed and running about 30 minutes late after an earlier signalling problem. There is a small museum at Appleby station - but it closed as we arrived - we did see the steam train that stands outside it though -
And there was no time to go down to the town - and a very steep hill to negotiate. So we sat on the station and enjoyed our surroundings -
Including the name of the station in stones in a flower bed - a tradition rarely seen on stations any more!
The train arrived eventually and we were able to enjoy the scenery all the way back to Settle. We got the giggles as we found ourselves listening, for the full hour, to two students (male, of course) discussing playing Sonic the Hedgehog - not even anything complicated like Baldur's Gate, but Sonic...!
So - here endeth the holiday picspam.
In other news, we celebrated S2C's birthday with chocolate cake before he went to bed for the day - yes, he was at work last night, and is at work tonight.
And in even more other news I have been viciously kicked by a plot bunny. I am currently writing short pieces, set in the Returnverse, using the Schmoop bingo prompts. Except that I woke up about 3 am on Sunday morning with an almost complete Lord of the Rings fic screaming itself at me - and like Pure Morning it is insisting that I write it, the whole thing is sitting in my brain and refusing to let me write anything else. And it starts with me killing off one of my favourite characters! But I am going to have to write it...
dougalsservant and I decided we should do on our holiday was travel on the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line. This line travels through some beautiful scenery, over viaducts and through tunnels - but was threatened, some years ago with closure.We finally got to do this on our last day, after the visit to the falconry centre. We decided not to travel all the way to Carlisle, but to do the most scenic part of the line and travel as far as Appleby, and then get the next down train, about ten minutes later, back to Settle. Although it didn't quite work out like that...
We drove over the hills from Hawes to the small market town of Ingleton - these pictures give you some idea of the scenery -
Isn't that hill on the right an interesting shape?
The road goes under the railway line - just at the head of the Ribble Valley, site of the famous Ribblehead viaduct which we would cross on the train a little later. It gives a good opportunity to take pictures of the viaduct -
So - now to Settle station. It is so like a railway station on a train set, even though it is part of the national rail network. Actually all the stations on the line are like something out of a story book.
This is the main building - the ticket office and down-line waiting room -
Wheras this is the small waiting room on the up platform -
And this is a corner of the up platform -
The train was an ordinary multiple diesel unit, and I didn't take any pictures from it - just gazed out at the scenery - it really is a beautiful trip.
When we reached Appleby, however, we had more time than we expected to look around the station - the down train was delayed and running about 30 minutes late after an earlier signalling problem. There is a small museum at Appleby station - but it closed as we arrived - we did see the steam train that stands outside it though -
And there was no time to go down to the town - and a very steep hill to negotiate. So we sat on the station and enjoyed our surroundings -
Including the name of the station in stones in a flower bed - a tradition rarely seen on stations any more!
The train arrived eventually and we were able to enjoy the scenery all the way back to Settle. We got the giggles as we found ourselves listening, for the full hour, to two students (male, of course) discussing playing Sonic the Hedgehog - not even anything complicated like Baldur's Gate, but Sonic...!
So - here endeth the holiday picspam.
In other news, we celebrated S2C's birthday with chocolate cake before he went to bed for the day - yes, he was at work last night, and is at work tonight.
And in even more other news I have been viciously kicked by a plot bunny. I am currently writing short pieces, set in the Returnverse, using the Schmoop bingo prompts. Except that I woke up about 3 am on Sunday morning with an almost complete Lord of the Rings fic screaming itself at me - and like Pure Morning it is insisting that I write it, the whole thing is sitting in my brain and refusing to let me write anything else. And it starts with me killing off one of my favourite characters! But I am going to have to write it...
