Garsdale Station

Garsdale station is an integral part of the UK’s national rail network and it is currently served by a regular daily passenger train service on the Leeds – Settle – Carlisle line.

Between August 1st, 1878 and the March 16th, 1959, this was the location of the junction between the Hawes Branch and the main Settle and Carlisle Railway. When the station first opened, it was known as Hawes Junction. In January 1900, the name changed to Hawes Junction and Garsdale and, in September 1932, the name was shortened to ‘Garsdale’ (thereby losing the reference to the junction). The proposed Upper Wensleydale Railway would see this junction reinstated to facilitate through-running from Hawes to Settle and beyond.

Image 1: The south end of Garsdale station. Branch line trains used the station’s third platform face (where the cars are parked in this image).
Image 2: Hawes this way!
Image 3: The north end of Garsdale station. The junction was at the south end of the station, but the two routes diverged here: to the left, the double-track main line to Carlisle; to the right, the single-track branch line to Hawes and all stations to Northallerton.

Garsdale station had – and still has – two platforms (one single-faced, the other an island – i.e. twin-faced).

  • The single-face platform to the west (top-left in image 1 above) was and still is served by trains on the ‘Down Main Line’ (i.e. northbound towards Carlisle).
  • The western face of the island platform (top-centre in image 1) is still served by trains on the ‘Up Main Line’ (i.e. southbound towards Settle and Leeds).
  • The eastern face (top-right in image 1) originally served trains using the Hawes Branch. While the platform is still in situ, the former trackbed is currently used for car-parking and site access.

Travel Notes

There is currently NO train service between Garsdale and Hawes.

For information about the main line train service and the associated passenger facilities at Garsdale, see:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/GSD/details.html

For information about the bus link between Garsdale and Hawes (operated by the ‘Little White Bus’), see:
http://www.littlewhitebus.co.uk
and
https://www.dalesbus.org