Friends of DalesRail

This page gives the latest news that may affect any of our activities - such as additional events, website updates, changes to our published programme, or problems with the trains we are using.

News items are retained on this page for up to 6 months, but may be removed/updated earlier than this, depending on their relevance. All older and removed items can still be viewed in the News Archives (see link below)

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If you need to contact us with enquiries, particularly about our events, please use our new email address
enquiries@friendsofdalesrail.org
This is monitored by the Events Secretary (Diane) and the Website Editor (Philip) who will reply as soon as possible

Walkers are reminded that even on non-strike days, train services can be affected by short-notice cancellations, eg due to railway workers overtime bans, so you are advised to re-check train running times as close as possible to your intended time of travel.

10 December 2023

The new rail timetable starts today and is valid up to 1 June 2024.

17 November 2023 - Winter Travel Offer for Dales Railcard holders

The Winter Offer for Dales Railcard holders is back! You can get a discount of 50% on Off-Peak Day Returns on the Leeds – Carlisle via Settle, and Leeds – Lancaster/Morecambe via Bentham routes with a Dales Railcard, including discounts of up to 81% for accompanying children.

If you have a Dales Railcard, claiming your discount is easy, simply select ‘Dales Railcard Winter CDR’ as the railcard option when purchasing your ticket online or at TVM’s (Ticket Vending Machines). Alternatively, show your Dales Railcard when purchasing at ticket offices or show to the conductor on board the train (when boarding at unstaffed stations where no ticket facilities are available).

The offer is available every day up to and including Sunday 24 March 2024. For full details see the Northern website.

14 November 2023

Selected issues of our members' newsletter from 2020 to 2023 can now be viewed in the Newsletter section. The online versions do not contain all the information from the regular editions, which are sent out to members, as some content is restricted to members only.

10 November 2023

Our programme of forthcoming train walks for the public from January to October 2024 can now be seen in the Train Walks section. The remaining walks for 2024 will be published online early in the New Year.

7 November 2023

The 2024 programme of members' Lake District walks can now be seen in the Members section.

25 October 2023 - Events update 2024

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

Hartington Hall YHA Hostel, Derbyshire - 13 to 15 September 2024 (2 nights)

Hollin House Hotel, Macclesfield, Cheshire - 11 to 14 October 2024 (3 nights)

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

17 October 2023

The 2024 programme of members' Thursday walks can now be seen in the Members section.

10 October 2023

Our October newsletter has now been produced and sent out to members by post and email. This includes booking forms for the Annual General Meeting in November, the New Year Dinner in January, the Spring weekend in March and the summer holiday in May. Please send any articles for the next newsletter (New Year 2024) to the editor, Fiona Robertson, as soon as possible.

13 September 2023

For 2023-24, membership of Friends of DalesRail is now increased to £12 per household per annum. For any members joining between now and the end of November this year, the annual membership will run until 30 November 2024.

17 January 2023 (updated item)

Anyone interested in joining us can now become a member online, by filling in our New membership application form. New membership subscriptions, as well as renewals, can now also be paid online. Please see our Join page for full details.