The Settle & Carlisle railway runs across the roof of England, reaching the highest point on any main line railway in the country. Today it carries a frequent and well-patronized passenger service and considerable heavy long-distance freight traffic.

The line has been fortunate enough to survive two attempts to close it and in fact should probably never have been built at all.

There could now be a 72-mile abandoned trackbed passing through such places as Blea Moor, over Dent Head and Arten Gill viaducts and the legendary Ais Gill summit, but sufficient people felt strongly enough to campaign successfully to stop this happening and keep one of Britain's favorite railway lines open.

Since the line won a second reprieve in 1989, after an eight-year battle, train services have been expanded. In fact they were expanding even while it plans were in place to close the line, but saving it was not the end of the story - it was just the beginning.

This is the story of the revival in the fortunes of the Settle & Carlisle. Many closed stations have reopened and restored to their former glory, freight traffic has returned and steam-hauled excursions over the line have gone from strength to strength.