THE public is being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk over the Ribblehead Viaduct along the Settle-Carlisle line this summer.

The unique event is being organised by The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line, together with track operator Network Rail.

However, there is a limit of just 2,000 tickets, which are being sold at £15 each, and they are expected to sell out quickly.

The opportunity has arisen because the line is being closed for a £60 million upgrade in July and agreement has been reached to allow supervised walks on the last day of closure, Sunday, July 22.

Friends chairman Mark Rand said: "This is a one-off opportunity for people to be able to walk over the Ribblehead Viaduct as it is normally busy with trains day and night."

Gary Openshaw, Network Rail's area general manager, added: "We would not normally encourage people to walk along a railway line but this is being done in a supervised and safe manner. To emphasise the point, we will have our railway crime education manager on hand with her ghost box' to get the safety message over to kids."

Radio presenter Mike Harding will be at the viaduct to open the walks, which run from 10am until 4pm. The 24-arch viaduct is a quarter of a mile long, 104 feet high and was completed in 1875 after taking five years to build. The 72-mile line itself was opened in 1876.

People who have only ever travelled across the viaduct by train will have the chance to take photographs of views they would otherwise only have seen while on the move. They will also be able to gain an understanding of what it was like for those who built it and appreciate the danger many were subjected to.

The Friends will have an army of volunteers to act as guides. They will accompany visitors across the viaduct in parties of 25 people at a time. Network Rail has also said visitors must be over the age of 14 to cross the viaduct.

As well as the viaduct walk, there will be guided tours of the former shanty towns on the Ribblehead site and around the local nature reserve.

The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line was formed 26 years ago when the line was under threat of closure partly because it was thought Ribblehead Viaduct was beyond economic repair. Happily, the viaduct was in nowhere near as bad a state as had been thought. It was repaired and the line was saved.

Tony Freschini, who is helping organise the event, was a senior British Rail engineer at the time.

He said: "We were able to waterproof, strengthen and repair the viaduct, which now carries some of the heaviest freight trains and is probably as good if not better than it was when first built. Walkers will be able to see for themselves at very close quarters and take in the stunning views from this new' vantage point."

Tickets will be allocated to a particular time-slot and visitors will not be allowed access to the viaduct unsupervised.

They are available from the Friends website or by post from Ribblehead Viaduct Walk, Bridge House, Church Brough, Kirkby Stephen CA17 4EN. Postal applicants are asked to enclose an SAE.