Walkers are reminded that train services can be affected by short-notice timetable changes and cancellations, so you are advised to re-check train running times as close as possible to your intended time of travel.

10 May 2026 - £1.50 rail tickets and Train walk updates for May

To celebrate 150 years of passenger services on the Settle-Carlisle line, Northern Rail have announced they are making tickets available at the special price of £1.50. They can be booked from 15 May 2026 for journeys between Leeds, Settle and Carlisle and will be valid from 22 May to 17 July. Search Northern Rail's website or app for these from 15 May onwards.

SATURDAY 16 MAY

For the moderate/strenuous Chatburn circular walk, please catch the number 280 Clitheroe/Preston bus at 09.10 from the bus stop on the main road outside Skipton rail station to Chatburn church from where the walk will begin.

SATURDAY 23 MAY Train walk change

Due to engineering work on the Huddersfield line, the originally scheduled Greenfield Horseshoe moderate/strenuous walk has now been changed to:

Ben Rhydding Circular
via Ilkley Moor
From the 09.33 Leeds to Ilkley train
Book, alight and return Ben Rhydding
13 Miles Moderate/Strenuous

5 May 2026

Please send any items for inclusion in the next edition of the members' newsletter to the editor, Fiona Robertson, as soon as possible, but no later than 17 May 2026.

12 April 2026 - Unlimited travel with Northern Rail

Northern Rail's unlimited travel offer for £12 via their newspaper tokens offer is back on from Monday 20 April to Thursday 16 July 2026. For details of which newspapers to collect the tokens from, which dates the tokens will be printed and how to obtain your unlimited travel ticket, please see Northern Rail's newspaper offer page on their website.

5 April 2026

The online edition of the February 2026 members' newsletter can now be seen in the Newsletter section.

27 March 2026

Two members' holidays have now been arranged for next year:

Arnside, Cumbria - 3 to 6 March 2027 (3 nights)

Isle of Man - 16 to 22 May 2027 (6 nights)

Please see the Holidays section for further information. Booking details will be in future editions of the members' newsletter.

11 February 2026

The February members' newsletter has now been sent out by email and post. The online version will be available to view and download in due course.

6 February 2026 - Statistics

For details of our train walk attendance figures in 2025, plus some analysis of trends since 2013, please see the attached document (PDF format).

3 January 2026

Our full programme of guided train walks for the whole of this year can now be seen in the Train Walks section. Any changes will be announced here and, time permitting, in the members' newsletter.

14 December 2025

The new rail timetable starts today and is valid up to 16 May 2026. Some minor timetable changes will affect Saturday train walks - these are summarised below.

Leeds to Carlisle trains have now been re-timed to depart slightly earlier at 07.47 and 09.18.

The Leeds to Morecambe train has been re-timed to depart slightly earlier at 08.18.

On the Harrogate line, trains will now depart from Leeds at 06 and 36 minutes past each hour. This will affect our walks on 21 February and 14 March.

On the Wharfedale line, trains from Leeds to Ilkley will now depart 1 minute later at 03 and 33 minutes past each hour.

We were unable to incoroporate all of these changes in the new Guided Walks leaflet, so please check the Train Walks section for the correct and updated times.

23 November 2025

The Friends of DalesRail Annual General Meeting was held today at the Black Horse Hotel in Skipton and was attended by 51 members. This was followed by an illustrated talk from Paul Rodgers about the Wild Ingleborough project from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

25 October 2025

The third members' holiday for next year will take place based at the Premier Inn, Pickering from Friday 16 to Monday 19 October 2026 (3 nights). Further details and booking information will be in future editions of the newsletter

1 September 2025

For 2025-26, membership of Friends of DalesRail will increase to £13 per household per annum. For any members joining between now and the end of November this year, the anual membership will run until 30 November 2026.

6 July 2025 (amended item)

Friends of DalesRail commemorated 45 years of leading walks for the public on Saturday 5 July with 4 walks from the Settle-Carlisle railway, ending up in Hellifield with a celebration meal at the Hellifield Station Cafe Shed24H for members. The anniversary was featured in an article in the Craven Herald newspaper, which you can view online.

A selection of photos from the meal can be seen in the Past Events (Train Walks 2025) section.