Kirkby Stephen Station

Having successfully completed the restoration of the station buildings at Ribblehead in 2000 and Horton-in-Ribblesdale in 2003, the Trust’s sights
were now set on Kirkby Stephen.

Like Horton, the main station building
at Kirkby Stephen had similarly been
structurally repaired by Railtrack
in 1998. Once again though,
much work was still required to
bring the building back into use.

Plans were drawn up to completely refurbish and convert the building for office use and resident caretakers’ accommodation. The larger proportions of this building allowed for the creation of additional floor space in the roof void.

The Trust completed the acquisition of the building on a 125 year lease in December 2003 and work commenced on site in March 2004. This entailed restoring period features and refurbishing the building to a high standard, creating office accommodation, a meeting room, a resident caretakers’ two-bedroom flat, as well as improved passenger waiting facilities. Building work was completed in November 2004.

The building won The Railway Heritage Trust Conservation
Award for 2005.

The main difference here was that the building was much larger than
those at Ribblehead and Horton, being of the Type 1 ‘large pattern’
structure similar to those at Settle and Appleby. Consequently the
project would be on a much larger scale and budget to the previous
two. However, the benefit was that it offered much greater scope for improved accommodation and alternative uses.

The refurbished waiting room doors

The restored building was formally opened by HRH The Prince
of Wales on 22nd March 2005, when a stylish slate plaque was unveiled to commemorate the event.

Funding for the project came from a variety of sources, including European Objective 2, Northwest Development Agency, Railway Heritage Trust, The Clothworkers’ Foundation, Friends of the
Settle-Carlisle Line, Arriva Trains Northern and Network Rail.

Since refurbishment the offices have been successfully let,
with resident caretakers occupying the flat accommodation.

The neglected interior before work began