As noted earlier there used to be a railway between Colne (via Foulridge, Earby [Barnoldswick], Thornton, Elslack) and Skipton. It was 11 1/4 miles long. From Colne you could travel anywhere and similarly from Skipton eg via the Settle-Carlisle to Scotland. Barbara Castle (Labour Transport Minister) authorised its closure from 1st February 1970, a closure NOT recommended in the 1963 Beeching Report.
Very little of the "track bed" has been built on and a study is to be carried out to assess the viability of rebuilding the line. "A no-brainer" is not a phrase I use often but in this case...
It is actually possible to travel the 11 1/4 miles between Colne and Skipton by train. It requires 3 changes and takes 4 hours 10 mins (and a single is from £23). Skipton is north of Colne but the current rail route via Burnley, Halifax and Bradford goes a long, long way south first.
And apart from revitalising the labour market and the economy there is the benefit of a shorter more efficient route for 2000+ tonnes quarry trains.
Anyway: today's blue sky merited a trip on the Bianchi so I cycled via Silsden, Cowling and Colne to Foulridge (notable as one end of the famous long tunnel on the Leeds-Liverpool canal) to explore the last bit of track bed to Colne 2 1/4 miles away, which I had never explored. Most of the track bed is in a cutting and therefore approximates to a swamp and the path that walkers have created over the past 51 years is uneven, unattractive and mostly mud. Of course reclaiming track beds for social purposes (SUSTRANS) is far harder and more expensive for those in cuttings so SUSTRANS usually go for those on embankments to avoid the drainage issues. I have ridden on some lovely elevated routes. And obviously a route in a cutting is not quite as attractive to those seeking spectacular views.
The track bed comes to an abrupt stop at the A6068 (Vivary Way)by Boundary Mill, Colne which I joined, suitably subdued, to ride home up the long drag (passing Black Lane Ends) to the wonderful Pinhaw Beacon (388 metres) with its spectacular views and deliciously long and fast 12% descent to Carleton in Craven and Skipton.
42 miles and 3250 feet. It was a beautiful day so I was happy to ride and of course there would have been no practical train service available to get me home had I had a major mechanical
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