York–Beverley line
The York–Beverley line was a railway line between York, Market Weighton and Beverley in Yorkshire, England. The line was sanctioned in 1846 and the first part, the York to Market Weighton Line opened in 1847. Construction of the second part to Beverley was delayed for 17 years in part by the downfall of George Hudson, and a less favourable financial environment following the collapse of the 1840s railway bubble; the North Eastern Railway revived and completed the scheme in the 1860s; the Market Weighton to Beverley Line opened in 1865.
The line left the York and Scarborough Railway at a junction north of York and turned eastward, crossing the largely flat terrain of the Vale of York via Stamford Bridge, Pocklington and Market Weighton before making its way over hillier ground via a gap in the Yorkshire Wolds, between Market Weighton and Goodmanham; the line then ran steadily downhill to the River Hull valley past Cherry Burton to a junction with the Hull to Scarborough Line at Beverley.
Market Weighton became the junction of two other railways, the Selby to Market Weighton line, sanctioned at the same time as the original York-Beverley scheme, and opened in 1848; and the Scarborough, Bridlington and West Riding Junction Railway, opened in 1890.
The line once was a preferred route for trains running directly between the English cities of York and Kingston upon Hull. Before closure the route Hull–Beverley–Market Weighton–York had daily direct trains and was often referred to as the Hull to York line.
The line was recommended for closure in the 1963 Beeching report and closed in November 1965.
History
Background
By the mid 1840s lines had been constructed from Leeds to Selby, Selby to Hull and from Hull to Beverley and Bridlington, all of which were owned or leased by George Hudson's York and North Midland Railway.In early 1845 the Hull and Selby Railway had authorised surveys for a line from its Bridlington branch via Market Weighton and Pocklington to York connection with a junction on either the Great North of England Railway or the York and North Midland Railway, as well as another branch to Market Weighton from its main line. On 17 May 1845 after being approached by interested parties from Beverley, the York and Midland shareholders agreed to proceed with surveys for the line and its branch. A rival scheme, promoted by the York, Hull and East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway running from a related proposed scheme at York, the Leeds and York Railway spurred the Y&NMR to the promotion of parliamentary bill in 1845 for the Beverley–Market Weighton–York line, as well as other railways in East Yorkshire. An act, the York and North Midland Railway Act 1846 was obtained.
George Hudson also acquired the Londesborough Hall estate for £474,000 in an attempt to prevent landowners on the line causing problems for the railway.
As part of the agreements needed to obtain the passage of the East Riding branches acts through Parliament the Y&NMR had to make agreements buy out the proprietors of the Pocklington Canal, Market Weighton Canal, its branch Sir Edward Vavasour's Canal and the Leven Canal. The Y&NMR began proceedings to obtain an act to that effect in 1846, which was passed as the York and North Midland Railway Act 1847 in 1847. The Leven canal was to be acquired in case of the Y&NMR constructing a Hornsea branch, the others were necessary for the lines to Market Weighton, and were bought at £18,000; £14,404 5s 10d; and £836 15s respectively.
York to Market Weighton (1846–1865)
Construction of the line was contracted to Jackson and Bean for £116,009; Buildings on the line were designed by G. T. Andrews and constructed by Burton and Son. Lesser stations generally consisted of two platforms, either parallel or staggered at a road crossing, with a two storey station houses, with a bay window overlooking the platform, the larger ones had a stone pillared portico at one of the entrances. The main stations had two platforms under an overall hipped roof trainshed, with single storey station buildings adjacent and parallel to the shed, with the entrance distinguished again by a stone pillared portico, or at Pocklington, by an arched arcade. Market Weighton had a two road engine shed, with turntable. Other buildings included goods sheds, coal drops, and gatehouses/platelayers cottages which were typically single storey buildings with distinctive double chimneys with arched brick saddles connecting the stack. George Hudson had a private station for Londesborough Hall.The only bridge of note on the section was the Stamford Bridge Viaduct crossing the River Derwent. The viaduct consisted of span semicircular brick approach arches, 10 on the southeast side, and 5 on the northwest side, with a cast iron span over the river. The iron work was erected by Gilkes Wilson and Company to a design by J. C. Birkinshaw; it consisted of six cast iron spandrel arched ribs, each made of five sections bolted together; with the ribs cross braced by spandrils; the weight of the iron work bridge was over.
The line was completed on 4 October 1847. The line was constructed as double track, long, at a total cost of £380,000, with gradients were generally light with maximum of 1 in 171 and 1 in 191, most of the line was built with gradient of 1:200 to 1:300 or better; there were peaks of elevation near Holtby and Pocklington.
The Selby to Market Weighton line opened on 1 August 1848 with a junction on the line west of Market Weighton station. Three trains per day ran each way on the York to Market Weighton Line, and the same number on the contemporary line to Driffield; coaches operated from Market Weighton to Beverley.
In 1848–49 costs per year for the line were estimated at: sleepers and rails, £1,481 and £522; maintenance wages £881 8s ; signalling, goods and coaching department wages,, £1,200 12s; and a very rough estimate of £70 per mile for works and building maintenance.
Total working charges on the line, including maintenance, wages, depreciation, insurance, rents, train running costs, sundries and administration was £7,808. Receipts in the first 12 months after opening were £971, £1,335, plus rents to a total of £2,336. the total train miles in the first half of 1849 was 22,793 and 6,949 for passenger and goods trains respectively.
In 1855 the basic service was still three trains per day with the stopping service taking 75 minutes. Yapham Gate was a scheduled stop on Market days.
Extension to Beverley
The compulsory purchase powers of the York and North Midland Railway Act 1846 were to expire after three years, with the powers to construct a railway expiring after five; in 1849 the Y&NMR applied for, and obtained a second act of Parliament, the York and North Midland Railway Act 1849, authorising the abandonment and replacement of the authorised section of the line from Market Weighton to Cherry Burton with a deviation between the same points. The act also extended the original 1846 act of Parliaments's duration of compulsory purchase and construction by two and five years respectively.As a result of the York and North Midland Railway's inquiry into George Hudson's fraud the company found itself needing to reduce expenditure; and construction of the Market Weighton to Beverley section was postponed. In 1851 two landowners brought a case against the Y&NMR, attempting to compel them to construct the Market Weighton to Cherry Burton Section; the court found in the plaintiffs' favour, but the decision was rejected as erroneous on appeal to the Court of Exchequer Chamber; the court ruled that the York and North Midland Railway Act 1849 used permissive terms and so the company was not compelled to complete the line.
In 1862 the Y&NMR's successor the North Eastern Railway applied to renew the powers to build the line to Beverley, local interests raised £40,000 towards the cost of the line through the purchase of NER stock. An act, the , was obtained.
The line ran roughly east-northeast out of Market Weighton, turning eastward towards Goodmanham; here the ground was boggy and prone to springs; the line ran on the bed of a diverted stream; there was a skew bridge east of Goodmanham, followed by a climb into the Yorkshire Wolds towards Kiplingcotes, a third of which was at a gradient of 1 in 160, with a peak east of Kiplingcotes at. Beyond the peak of the wolds the line ran east to Cherry Burton, then roughly southeast to Beverley; from the peak to Beverley the route was downhill, with gradients between 1:161 and 1:185. Most of the roads were crossed by bridge or underpassed, with the exception of Pighill crossing outside Beverley.
The branch was opened on 1 May 1865; the line was built as a single track line, with a double track section at Kiplingcotes.
Operations (1865–1965)
After the opening of the Beverley section in 1865 trains could run through from York to Hull; by 1870 the standard service had also increased to four trains per day; additionally an express train running from Hull and connecting at York for the express to Scotland had to be run, stopping only at the main stations: Beverley, Market Weighton, Pocklington and Stamford Bridge.In 1890 the Scarborough, Bridlington and West Riding Junction Railway from Market Weighton to Driffield opened, with a junction on the line to Beverley just east of Market Weighton station, at East junction.
By 1895 the service had increased to six trains per day each way, of which all but one were stopping services; by 1910 the service had reached eight trains each way. During the First World War service were reduced, recovering to pre-war levels in the 1920s; through trains also began to run from Hull to Newcastle using the line. In the 1930s a Sunday train began to run on the line, an excursion service from York to the coast at Bridlington. The level-crossing on the busy York to Scarborough trust road was grade separated in the 1930s.
Holtby station closed for passengers in September 1939. Service were reduced again during the Second World War and recovered post war. Nunburnholme station closed to passengers, goods service to Holtby ended in 1951, whilst the station roof at Market Weighton had been removed and replaced with steel awnings in around 1948.
Diesel multiple units were introduced on the line in 1957. Warthill, Fangfoss and Cherry Burton railway stations were closed to passengers in 1959.
At the beginning of the 1960s nine trains per day ran each way, including expresses.