Kirkby Stephen railway station
Kirkby Stephen is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated south of Carlisle, serves the market town of Kirkby Stephen and nearby villages of Newbiggin-on-Lune and Ravenstonedale, Eden in Cumbria, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. History. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders, and opened to traffic in May 1876. The station is more than from the town (and over above it) at Midland Hill, just within the civil parish of  Wharton. It was opened as Kirkby Stephen, but it was renamed "Kirkby Stephen and Ravenstonedale" in 1900, and then "Kirkby Stephen West" in 1953, to avoid confusion with the older Kirkby Stephen, later known as Kirkby Stephen East, station in the town, on the North Eastern Railway's Stainmore and Eden Valley lines. Its remote location was necessitated by the Midland Railway's desire to keep gradients on the line to no greater than 1 in 100 for fast running. Had it been any closer to the town, the climb up to the summit of the line at Ais Gill  would have exceeded this limit considerably. The West station reverted to the name Kirkby Stephen in 1968, but was closed (along with all other stations on the line except Settle and Appleby) in May 1970. It was reopened by British Rail in July 1986. The station is leased by the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust, which comprehensively restored it in 2009. The main buildings on platform 1 now incorporate a caretaker's flat, offices, holiday accommodation and the Midland Room, opened in July 2011, which includes a cafe and exhibition of items related to the Settle and Carlisle railway. Platform  2 (northbound) has a stone shelter. The old goods shed to the south is now in private commercial use, goods facilities having been withdrawn here in 1964. Step-free access to both platforms is available (ramps to platform 2 from the road below), along with a footbridge (erected in the mid-1990s after becoming redundant at its original location at ). No ticket machine is present, so passengers must buy in advance or from the conductor on the train (though operator Northern is in the process of installing one and also digital information screens as part of a rolling station upgrade programme  on the route). Buses to and from the town call close to the station entrance on the A685 road to Kendal. Services. The station is served by eight trains in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays: northbound to Carlisle and southbound to . A new early morning Monday to Friday service southbound began in May 2011. The first weekday northbound service now runs through from Leeds, rather than arriving from Carlisle and returning there after a reversal as before. There are six departures each way on Sundays throughout the year, including a through train to and from . DalesRail services between Blackpool  North/Preston and Carlisle also call at the station on summer Sundays.