1938 - Summer Saturday at Hellifield
I have a David & Charles Reprint of the Bradshaw's Railway Guide for July 1938. I am using the T:ANE version of the S&C Route to illustrate a Saturday lunchtime in that summer, which is now 79 years in the past. The Settle and Carlisle line's local passenger traffic is waiting to be served by the 11:38 a.m. stopping passenger service from Hellifield to Carlisle Citadel. The three coach train is in the bay with a Fowler 2P 4-4-0 simmering away before starting an almost three hour turn of duty which will take it over the pennine hills to the border city 76 and 3/4 miles away, with 20 station stops en-route. The fireman must be a tough fellow.
With it being a summer Saturday, there will be the 7:05 a.m. Saturdays Only Express from Nottingham to Morecambe, calling at Hellifield. Arriving at 11:22 a.m. and departing at 11:28 a.m. The train is lamped as an express but it is not a high speed service. It spent 24 minutes at Leeds (10:01 a.m. to 10:25 a.m.) and takes 19 minutes to cover the ten miles from Skipton to Hellifield. This is only three minutes less than the Saturdays Excepted stopping train that departs Skipton for Heysham via Morecambe and Lancaster Ayre Green at the same time (11:03 a.m.) and that has two intermediate stops. On Saturdays the 11:03 a.m. stopping train is moved to an 11:10 departure and arrives Hellifield at 11:33 a.m. The Nottingham Express reaches Morecambe at 12:15 a.m. while the 11:10 a.m. stopping train from Skipton will reach the resort at 12:38, having made 12 intermediate stops en-route.
In the eastbound direction a stopping train between Carnforth and Leeds will call at Hellifield at 11:22 a.m. This conveys a through carriage from Barrow-in-Furness for Leeds. Passengers on that through coach will be hardy souls, departing Barrow at 9:12 a.m. (SX) or 9:20 a.m. (SO) with just six minutes allotted to switch the coach to the Leeds train at Carnforth. The ultimate arrival at leeds is 12:23 p.m. and with only short station stops en-route, I would hope that at least some of the passengers had access to a toilet in either a bogie Lavatory Composite or bogie Brake Third Lavatory! I am not expecting the LMS of 1938 to grace the stopping train with corridor coaches. So much for the good old days and the glamour of rail travel. I am letting freight get a look-in with a part fitted freight from Durranhill yard passing through on its way to West Yorkshire.
Above the 7:05 a.m. Nottingham to Morecambe Express has found itself in the hands of 4-6-0 "The Duke of Sutherland" while the 2P 4-4-0 waits to depart for Carlisle in Hellifield's western bay platform. Perhaps one or two passengers from Nottingham, Sheffield or Leeds is changing trains to take a less travelled path and take a rambling holiday at Settle, Kirkby Stephen or Appleby.
Above, the 10:30 a.m. Carnforth to Leeds train arrives at Hellifield in the hands of another 2P 4-4-0.
Above, the express for Morecambe via Wennington Junction and Lancaster Ayre Green leaves Hellifield as a Black Five 4-6-0 brings an eastbound freight from Durranhill Yard through the station.
Above, in the hands of a 2P 4-4-0 the 11:10 SO Skipton to Heysham stopping passenger train approaches Hellieifeld station as the Black Five 4-6-0 leaves for Leeds.
Above, the station at Hellifield hosts two 2P 4-4-0s. In the through platform is the 11:38 departure for all stations to Heysham via Lancaster Ayre Green, while in the bay platform is the 11:38 stopping train for Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle.
Just to add, I thnk that this is a classic example of a steam era junction. The lines radiating from Hellifield to the west/north west pass through sparse countryside but have large towns at the end of them (Morecambe, Barrow, Carlisle), with Lancaster and Appleby providing other traffic centres on two of them. The 11:38 to Carlisle has three trains which feed it, from Nottingham to Leeds, Barrow and Carnforth to Clapham, and Skipton. The 10:20 Leeds to Glasgow express stopped at Hellifield at 11:10, which on Monday to Friday would be the usual feeder train for passengers from Leeds and beyond, though the London passenger would have to be at St Pancras at an ungodly 4:25 a.m. and a change at Derby (8:01 a.m. arrival, 8:20 a.m departure on the 7:45 a.m. Nottingham - Leeds) arriving Leeds 10:06 a.m. If they wanted anything to eat they would find it in the Restaurant Car on the connection at Derby, but only on a Monday to Friday! There might have only been a couple of passengers from each train for the 11:38 over the S&C but a 1930s passenger wanting to get from places such as Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Skipton, Carnforth, Lancaster, Barrow or Colne to a town such as Settle, Kirkby Stephen or Appleby, or a village such as Hawes, Armathwaite or Scotby, then the train was the way to do it. Private cars were a luxury for the middle and upper classes and nearly all road travel was on winding two lane roads, with 1930s motor vehicle reliability making a long journey by road a real adventure. Long distance travel by bus was two to three decades away from being a practical possibility.
Surprisingly, today, in 2017, there is an 11:37 a.m. departure from Hellifield to Carlisle! Now the train starts back at Leeds (10:49) and reaches Carlisle at 1:29 p.m. rather than 2:14 p.m. with only ten internediate stops after departing Hellifield. The connection from London will make the long dead Managers of the old Midland Railway and L&MSR turn in their graves though, it is the 7:35 a.m. from London Kings Cross via the ex-GNR main line to Leeds.
The Settle and Carlisle Route is set in the BR era of the late 1950s to early 1960s, so station nameboards and signal box liveries are of that era, so my apologies if anyone is offended by the liberty taken!