Ulleskelf railway station

Coordinates: 53°51′13″N 1°12′51″W / 53.853560°N 1.214060°W / 53.853560; -1.214060
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Ulleskelf
National Rail
Northbound view
General information
LocationUlleskelf, Selby
England
Coordinates53°51′13″N 1°12′51″W / 53.853560°N 1.214060°W / 53.853560; -1.214060
Grid referenceSE517399
Managed byNorthern
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeULL
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Opened1839
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 7,256
2019/20Increase 13,236
2020/21Decrease 3,100
2021/22Increase 9,038
2022/23Increase 10,320
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ulleskelf railway station in Ulleskelf, North Yorkshire, England, is 8.75 miles (14 km) south of York.

History[edit]

The station opened on 29 May 1839 on the York and North Midland Railway near where it crossed the River Wharfe.[1] It appears to have been redesigned and slightly relocated following the construction of the bridge carrying New Road (the B1223) over the tracks: the first station building was either adjacent and at right angles to the Ulleskelf Arms public house, or directly across the track from the pub on West End Road.[2] Neither of these buildings survives. A 1888 survey shows the station in its current position on the south side of the new road bridge,[3] with a new access road from the east end of the bridge across Hall Garth to the junction of Main Street and a newly-extended Church Fenton Lane, alongside a goods yard built on the site which was a plant nursery on the 1849 map. Further evidence of this change in layout is the terrace called Station Cottages on Main Street at the junction of Church Fenton Lane, now some 200m north of, and out of sight of, the modern station. The station avoided the Beeching Axe in the mid 1960s due to the poor road network in the area (there being no easily accessible road bridge over the river for York-bound commuters).[4] Today the station is unstaffed with all trains operated by Northern. Though there are four tracks, the island platform only serves the eastern pair.

Accidents and incidents[edit]

  • On 24 November 1906, a passenger train overran signals and ran into the rear of a freight train.[5]
  • On 8 December 1981, a York to Liverpool express derailed 1,600 feet (500 m) north of the station. Whilst the locomotive stayed upright, all the carriages de-railed and carriages six and seven rolled down a steep bank. This resulted in 24 people requiring hospitalisation with nine of those being serious. One man later died of his injuries. The cause of the derailment was found to be a crack in one of the rails of the Up Normanton line.[6]

Services[edit]

Seventeen trains call at Ulleskelf on weekdays and Saturdays, with the majority in the morning and afternoon peak periods. Eight of these run to York northbound and three each to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill, to Leeds (with one of those continuing to Blackpool North) and to Hull (with one of those continuing to Bridlington) southbound.[7]

Eleven trains call here on Sundays: five trains to York, five to Hull and one to Selby. In addition, one rail replacement bus service runs between York and Moorthorpe (for onward connections to/from Sheffield) in each direction in the early evening. No services run to or from Leeds.

In December 1997, a wheelchair-accessible footbridge opened.

Modernisation/electrification[edit]

In May 2021 as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, it was confirmed electrification of the line between York and Church Fenton would happen along with other upgrades.[8] Further confirmation of the upgrade came from the publishing in November 2021 of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP)[9][10] which includes full electrification between York through Church Fenton to Manchester.

As of April 2023, electrified rail lines run through Ulleskelf.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. [page needed]. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  2. ^ "View map: Yorkshire 205 (includes: Church Fenton; Kirkby Wharfe and North Milford; Saxton ... - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  4. ^ Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1, p.172
  5. ^ Hoole, Ken (1982). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 3. Redruth: Atlantic Books. p. 14. ISBN 0-906899-05-2.
  6. ^ "Report on the Derailment that occurred on the 8th December 1981 near Ulleskelf" (PDF). Railways Archive. Department of Transport. 8 December 1982. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  7. ^ Table 23 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  8. ^ "Government announces £317m in Transpennine Route Upgrade investment". Rail Technology Magazine. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  9. ^ Department for Transport (18 November 2021). Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (PDF). Department for Transport. ISBN 978-1-5286-2947-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  10. ^ Media, Insider. "Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade project moving to next phase". Insider Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

External links[edit]

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Northern
Northern
Hull-York Line
Northern
York & Selby Lines
  Historical railways  
Church Fenton
Line and station open
  North Eastern Railway   Bolton Percy
Line open, station closed