Ingleton Viaduct

Today's the day ....................... to be un-cooperative

This impressive structure is the 800ft long Ingleton Viaduct which crosses the valley of the River Greta at a maximum height of 80 feet. Its foundations were laid in 1849 by the North Western Railway (NWR) as part of their planned route from Skipton to Tebay - but it was left to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) to finish it off some ten years later after the NWR got into financial difficulties.

The two Railway Companies were in direct competition and each had their own station at either end of the viaduct. Passengers wanting to switch between lines had to walk nearly a mile between the two Ingleton stations, descending into the valley below and climbing up the other side, where they often had a long wait as the companies did not cooperate over time-tabling either.

It wasn’t until 1923, when the two companies were eventually merged into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and one of the stations was closed that, for the first time, passengers could travel through Ingleton without changing trains.

There have not been any passenger-carrying trains through Ingleton since 30th January 1954 and nowadays you have to look hard to find any evidence of the railway line and the two stations that this small town once had.