Tickets have gone on sale for the July walk across Ribblehead viaduct.
Organisers say you should act now if you want to take part, because numbers are limited. You can book online or download a form to post to the organisers.
The ubiquitous Mike Harding pops up again as the official opener of the 22 July event during which, for £15 plus a quid for parking, you can amble across the Victorian civil engineering edifice which you’ve usually gazed up at (or down on if you’re on one of the Three Peaks).
The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line have been given permission by Network Rail for the walk while trains are absent due to engineering work. Obviously, because of the line closure, there are no trains running to Ribblehead, but a replacement bus service will run between Leeds and Carlisle, calling at all railway stations en route.
A field has been set aside for parking and a free shuttle bus will be run by Northern Rail between Horton in Ribblesdale and Ribblehead. Cash raised by the event will be used to develop further the Ribblehead station site which now has a museum and is run by the Settle & Carlisle Railway Trust.
When you book, you can opt for either a morning or afternoon slot. You will then be given an allocation with your confirmation. The viaduct will be open between 10am and 4pm.
There’s an overall limit of 2,000 people for the day and visitors will be led across the viaduct in groups of 25, accompanied by guides. Participants must be at least 14 years old.
Friends chairman Mark Rand said: “This is a one-off opportunity for people to be able to walk over the Ribblehead Viaduct, as it is normally busy with trains day and night.”
Gary Openshaw, Network Rail's area general manager added: “We would not normally encourage people to walk along a railway line but this is being done in a supervised and safe manner.
“To emphasise the point, we will have our railway crime education manager on hand with her 'ghost box' to get the safety message over to kids.”
Guided tours of the sites of the construction workers’ shanty town on Batty Moss, next to the viaduct, will be available and hopes to get across its rail safety message using a rail-incident vehicle.
Details are on the Settle-Carlisle Partnership website .
The viaduct took five years to build, being completed in 1875. It is a quarter of a mile long and has 24 arches, which rise 104 feet above Batty Wife Moss.
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