Settle-Carlisle Line rated second greatest journey in the world (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Settle-Carlisle Line rated second greatest journey in the world

11:19am Tuesday 17th November 2009 in News By Natalie Stewart

THE Settle-to-Carlisle line has been named the second-best train trip in the world by an American news network.

Travelling the 73 miles of the line, through some of Yorkshire’s most spectacular countryside, is more thrilling than being a train passenger between Paris and Istanbul on the Orient Express, ABC News claims.

The network’s World’s Top Ten Great Railway Journeys also says the railway, which goes through the Yorkshire Dales’ Three Peaks country with the famous Ribblehead viaduct at its core, is more dramatic than the Trans-Siberian railway connecting Moscow to Mongolia and beyond.

Also behind the Settle-to-Carlisle line in the top ten were Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer and rail routes in Malaysia, Syria, India, Switzerland and Kenya.

Only South Africa’s Blue Train – 1,000 miles between Pretoria and Cape Town – was rated a better journey by ABC News.

Mark Rand, chairman of the Friends of the Settle Carlisle line, said: “We always knew the Settle and Carlisle was extra special, but to be ranked number two in the whole world is a real honour.

"Now we need to spread the word and bring in people from all corners of the globe to come and visit this wonderful line.”

David Heather, chairman of Craven District Council’s tourism working group, said he was “thrilled” by the news.

“People fought like mad to save the line when it was under threat of closure. Thank God they did and it was preserved.

“It’s a vindication of the efforts of all those dedicated people who battled to keep it.”

He said it was also a big boost for Craven district and its tourism industry.