Quarry bosses want to slash the number of stone-carrying lorries using roads in the Dales by increasing the amount going by rail.

Tilcon, which operates Swinden Quarry, between Cracoe and Threshfield, near Skipton, plans to run 50 extra trains a year on the single-track line into Skipton.

It would reduce the number of lorry journeys along the road by about 3,000 a year - about 4.5 million road miles, quarry bosses estimate.

Lorry drivers will be found other jobs and three new jobs will be created at the company's new rail-fed aggregate depot in Dewsbury.

Tilcon is seeking to use open box-style wagons on the journey rather than the covered vehicles.

A Tilcon company spokesman said it was seeking permission from Yorkshire Dales National Park to use the open wagons for a trial period until the end of 1999.

He said: "A train would operate daily to Dewsbury for ten to 12 days to build up stocks and then there would be a gap of about two months before a further ten to 12 days of operation.''

National Park chief executive, Heather Hancock, said: "It is considered that with appropriate safeguards to minimise dust from loads, the use of unsheeted wagons for a temporary period would be acceptable.

"The company have confirmed that all loads would be strayed with water during loading and immediately prior to dispatch.''

Councillor Robert Heseltine, national park chairman, said: "This will be a tremendous environmental gain and improve life in those Dales villages because there will be less lorries travelling through.''

He would be asking for a condition that the speed of the unsheeted trains is reduced on its journey through Skipton to ensure noise levels and the problems of dust were kept to a minimum.

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