Settle and Carlisle

[Verse 1]
The Settle Carlisle railway was built into the land
More viaducts and tunnels than the lines upon your hand
She cuts across the Pennines of a water roccaneer
Seventy miles of monument to the men who put her there

[Chorus]
Well, I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening

[Verse 2]
You can feel the ghosts of engineers who first surveyed the line
Who conjure up a Jubilee or lumbering number nine
Or maybe find the water troughs on a Garsdale afternoon
And listen to them filling when the Waverly is gone

[Chorus]
But I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening

[Verse 3]
Cascades of falling Waterdown, the sides of Pen-y-ghent
And at the foot of Ingleborough, a solitary tent
The bridges over Arten Gill and Hetton Bet-y-moss
And silhouettes of steamers as they haul the trains across

[Chorus]
But I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening

[Verse 4]
When snow is blown around the fells, and cuttings disappear
Tunnels fill with icicles, the line is never clear
But weather is a fickle thing, and snow will turn to rain
And the land slides all too easily, the digging starts again

[Chorus]
But I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening

[Verse 5]
When engine-spotters gather here, on summer Saturdays
Jostling with the travellers who go their different ways
The polished brass and uniforms of Settle's age of gold
But memories of better times are difficult to hold

[Chorus]
But I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening

[Verse 6]
Well, an engine's on the turntable, the crew are climbing down
Dreams become reality as they start to turn around
For the men turn into shadows, and the cinders into grass
And the engine's still revolving as it fades into the past

[Chorus]
But I'd like to sit a while
By the Settle and Carlisle
And delve among the memories at evening