Saltburn railway station
Saltburn is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between and Saltburn, via. The station, situated east of Middlesbrough, serves the seaside town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.
History
The station was opened by the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the terminus of their line from Redcar on 17 August 1861; although the ornate station building was not finished until the following year. Eleven years later, the North Eastern Railway opened a line towards from the town, but this diverged from the original route some west of the 1861 station in order to avoid excessively steep gradients further east. This meant that passenger trains from the town to Loftus and that started in 1875 had to reverse into and out of the terminus before regaining the correct direction at Saltburn West Junction. This line is still in operation today to serve the Skinningrove Steelworks and the Boulby potash mine, although passenger trains ceased in 1958.In its heyday, the station had four platforms and a sizeable number of carriage sidings to handle the large quantities of excursion trains that ran there; these included services from as far away as and Blackpool. There was also a short siding extension from the main station to another platform at the rear of the railway-owned Zetland Hotel, where passengers in first class carriages could disembark directly into their accommodation.
A 1974 remodelling scheme saw the station reduced in size with the two main platforms and signal box being taken out of use along with most of the sidings and one of the two running lines from West Junction. Today, both of the two surviving excursion bay platforms are used for scheduled services, but neither the main station building nor the Zetland Hotel is in rail-related use. The former having been converted into a photographic studio, cafe and various other retail outlets and the latter into luxury flats.
A buffer stop from the siding formerly on the south side of the station has been re-erected in a car park on the north side of the station to commemorate Saltburn's railway heritage. An accompanying display sign describes the history of the station, with a map and old photographs.
Tees Valley Metro
Starting in 2006, Saltburn was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line, with sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England.As part of the scheme, Saltburn station would have received new shelters and new electronic information displays, as well as improved service to .
However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved. Several stations eventually got their improvements including Saltburn in 2012, and there is a possibility of improved rolling stock and services in the future which may affect Saltburn.
Facilities
The station is unstaffed; it has two acrylic glass passenger shelters, bench seating and an electronic information board. A self-service ticket machine is available. Step-free access is provided from the main entrance to both platforms.Station facilities here were improved in summer 2012. The package for this station included new waiting shelters, decorative planting schemes, renewed station signage, a digital information screen displaying live departures, and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.
Services
The station is served by two train operating companies; they provide the following general off-peak services in trains per hour/day :Northern Trains
- 2 tph to, via ; of which:
- * 1 tph continues to
- 1 tpd to, via Darlington and.
TransPennine Express
- 1 tpd to
- 2 tpd to.