From its opening to passenger traffic by the Midland Railway in 1876, the 72-mile Settle to Carlisle line quickly gained a reputation as one of the most scenic and impressive rail routes in the British Isles. Difficulties encountered in its five-year construction were matched in almost equal measure by the operating difficulties posed by the tortuous nature of the route, which climbed to over 1100 feet above sea level at Ais Gill Summit. Although the route's scenic attractions were widely promoted, freight traffic from the Midlands and the West Riding to the important rail centre of Carlisle was its lifeblood during the steam era. Film taken between 1963 and 1967 shows vividly the rugged landscape, together with many of the numerous viaducts and tunnels that gave the line its unique appeal and, in addition to views of the line's larger stations at Carlisle, Settle and Appleby, many of the stations which succumbed to closure in 1970 are shown. These include Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead, Dent, Garsdale, Culgaith and Little Salkeld. At Kirkby Stephen, both the town's West and the former North Eastern Railway East stations feature, together with sequences on the long-closed Stainmore Route from Barnard Castle. 

Early diesel classes such as 'Peaks', Sulzer Type 2s and diesel railcars are shown. However, it is the sight and sounds of the steam locomotive in the form of Black 5s, Jubilees, Britannias, 9Fs, plus the occasional 'Crab', Austerity 2-8-0 and 4F hard at work on passenger and freight at a wide variety of locations between Hellifield and Carlisle that make this programme a fascinating visual record.