There’s no masking the splendour of these views
Rob Carroll gets back on track with a day out on the Staycation Express, Britain’s newest charter train service
‘Anyone wishing to leave the train at Dent, please be aware that Dent village is nearly five miles from the station. There is, however, a bus connection to Kendal. Once a week.”
Our humorous train host, Anthony, was in full flow as the Staycation Express approached Dent, at 1,150ft above sea level the highest mainline station in England and not actually a scheduled stop on this service.
From our start point at Appleby’s delightfully pretty station in the rolling Cumbrian countryside, the train had fought hostile yet heavenly terrain, heaving slowly up to the line’s highest point at Aisgill. At Garsdale, if you are quick, you can spot the statue of border collie Ruswarp (pronounced “Russup”), the only dog to object to the threatened closure of the spectacularly scenic Settle-Carlisle line in the 1980s.
Up in the moors, in blissful isolation, with roads sparse and wildlife abundant, I felt thankful to faithful old Ruswarp and the 32,000 human objectors who kept this line alive.
This little excursion was a big step for me. After a lifetime travelling, making rail holidays for a living, a few months “off the rails” and shielding at home had resulted in itchy feet. Back out in the wide world, the prospect of a journey on the Staycation Express – launched last month as Britain’s newest rail service – seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
The brainchild of Rail Charter Services, this special timetabled tourist service pulls former first-class InterCity carriages three times a day in each direction across the Settle-Carlisle line. You can join the train in Skipton or Settle at the southern end, whereas Appleby is the excursion’s northern terminus.
While not luxurious, the seating is spacious and comfortable, positioned by full windows to view the Pennines in all their changeable glory. There are four seats to a table on one side of the aisle, and two seats to a table on the other, each bay separated by unobtrusive Perspex screens to conform with these unusual times. At stations, boarding and when walking around the train I wore my face mask, a train design (of course!) handmade by my daughter. Otherwise, you can sit back mask-free and enjoy a little bit of nostalgia and escapism amid the moorland heather.
After Dent came more drama. Our train trundled slowly above the 24 arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct, more than 100ft above the valley, the line crossing between Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent, Yorkshire’s Three Peaks. Brooding clouds added to the atmosphere before our descent through Ribblesdale to glorious sunshine at Settle, a gorgeous town in the Yorkshire Dales from where Malham, Grassington and the Ingleton Falls are just a short ride away.
Back in the market town of Skipton, itself a great base for exploring Yorkshire, the news broke that the UK’s quarantine regulations would be widened to include France and the Netherlands, among other countries. It felt pretty apt to have spent that same day enjoying the striking beauty of our own island on a train called the Staycation Express.