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Sleights railway station

Coordinates: 54°27′40″N 0°39′45″W / 54.461100°N 0.662600°W / 54.461100; -0.662600
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Sleights
General information
LocationScarborough
Coordinates54°27′40″N 0°39′45″W / 54.461100°N 0.662600°W / 54.461100; -0.662600
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeSLH
History
Original companyWhitby and Pickering Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
15 May 1835 (1835-05-15)Station opened

Sleights railway station is in the village of Sleights in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Esk Valley Line and is operated by Northern Trains who provide all of the station's passenger services. The station serves the village of Sleights, located behind the station, and the hamlet of Briggswath on the opposite side of the valley across the River Esk.

History

Sleights station was on the initial 6.5-mile (10.5 km) section of the Whitby and Pickering Railway between Whitby and Grosmont.[1] Originally just a simple halt, it opened to horse-drawn traffic on 15 May 1835,[2] with a full public service operating from June 1835.[1] The station platforms and the main building, a mock-Tudor design by George Townsend Andrews, were constructed eleven years later and opened in 1846.[3] It used to have two platforms for up and down line working,[4] but in common with the other stations between Grosmont and Whitby, this was reduced to single track working in 1984 when the second track was lifted and Sleights signal box closed.[5] Trains now stop at the former Up line platform[6] where the main station buildings, including the station master's house, are now a grade II listed private residence.[7][8] The former down platform used to have a wooden waiting shed and store; this building was recovered by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and re-erected on the extended down platform at Grosmont.[9] Behind the down platform was a small goods yard with a single siding. The Up line platform is currently managed and maintained by Northern and Esk Valley Railway, whilst the down platform and derelict signal box are the responsibility of Network Rail.

At one end of the platform, a footpath carries passengers over the River Esk to Briggswath on a small box girder bridge, while at the other the A169 towers over the railway and river on a bridge opened on 26 January 1937.[10] The site of the modern day footpath used to be a level crossing carrying the main Whitby-Pickering road to a stone bridge over the Esk,[11] before this was washed away during floods in 1930.[12] Next to the crossing a 19th-century brick built signal box remains, now unused and boarded up.

Services

Northern Trains
Route 5
Esk Valley line
Middlesbrough
James Cook University Hospital
Marton
Gypsy Lane
Nunthorpe
Great Ayton
Battersby
Kildale
Commondale
Castleton Moor
Danby
Lealholm
Glaisdale
Egton
Grosmont
Heritage railway
Sleights
Ruswarp
Whitby
Heritage railway

From December 2019 there will be five Monday–Saturday services to Whitby, three to Middlesbrough and one to Newcastle.

Sunday services of four trains in each direction also operate throughout the year, with some of these trains running through to/from Darlington or Newcastle Central.[13]

Whilst heritage trains between Pickering and Whitby from the North York Moors Railway travel through the station, they are not permitted to stop.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Bairstow 2008, p. 13.
  2. ^ Bairstow 2008, p. 111.
  3. ^ Ellis, Norman (1995). North Yorkshire railway stations. Ochiltree: Stenlake. p. 29. ISBN 1-872074-63-4.
  4. ^ Chapman, Stephen (2008). York to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. p. 89. ISBN 9781871233193.
  5. ^ Bairstow 2008, p. 90.
  6. ^ Body, Geoffrey (1989). Railways of the Eastern Region. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. p. 122. ISBN 1-85260-072-1.
  7. ^ Historic England. "2 Coach Road (Grade II) (1316164)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. ^ Historic England. "Sleights Station (500526)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  9. ^ Hunt, John (2004). The North Yorkshire moors railway : a further trip along the former Whitby & Pickering Railway and through to Malton / vol. 2. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 37. ISBN 1-85895-236-0.
  10. ^ Whitworth, Alan (1998). Esk Valley Railway : a travellers' guide ; a description of the history and topography of the line between Whitby and Middlesbrough. Barnsley: Wharncliffe. p. 33. ISBN 1-871647-49-5.
  11. ^ Hoole, Ken (1983). Railways of the North York Moors : a pictorial history. Clapham: Dalesman Books. p. 36. ISBN 0-85206-731-3.
  12. ^ "River Esk fact file" (PDF). environmentdata.org. Environment Agency. p. 4. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  13. ^ GB National Rail Timetable 2018-19, Table 45
  14. ^ Bairstow 2008, p. 106.

Sources

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains