Northallerton railway station
Encyclopedia
Northallerton railway station serves the town of Northallerton
Northallerton
Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...

 in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The station lies on the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

 30 miles (48.3 km) north of York
York railway station
York railway station is a main-line railway station in the city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station...

. It is currently managed by First TransPennine Express
First TransPennine Express
First TransPennine Express is a British train operating company. It is a joint operation between First Group and Keolis . It operates regular passenger services in northern England, including services linking the west and east coasts across the Pennines...

 and also served by Grand Central and East Coast
East Coast (train operating company)
East Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland...

.

A long-term aim of the Wensleydale Railway
Wensleydale Railway
The Wensleydale Railway is a railway line in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England and the name of the company that operates services on the line....

 is to run trains into the station from Redmire
Redmire
Redmire is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 4 miles west of Leyburn in Wensleydale at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.It is the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway...

 and eventually Garsdale
Garsdale railway station
Garsdale railway station is a railway station which serves the immediate hamlet of Garsdale Head, Cumbria, England, together with the valley of Garsdale and the nearby towns of Sedbergh, Cumbria and Hawes, North Yorkshire...

 on the Settle-Carlisle Railway
Settle-Carlisle Railway
The Settle–Carlisle Line is a long main railway line in northern England. It is also known as the Settle and Carlisle. It is a part of the National Rail network and was constructed in the 1870s...

.(Although a bay platform or two would need to be constructed once funding could be made officially, over the next couple of years).

It is also very popular with rail enthusiasts, as the station is situated on one of the fastest parts of the East Coast Mainline, and trains pass at speeds up to 125 mph.

History

The station was opened by the Great North of England Railway
Great North of England Railway
The Great North of England Railway was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington, and originally it was planned to extend to Newcastle. In 1850 it was absorbed by the North Eastern Railway ....

 on 30 March 1841. Eleven years later the Leeds Northern Railway completed its line from Leeds to Stockton
Stockton railway station
Stockton railway station serves the town of Stockton-on-Tees, within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The railway station is located on the Durham Coast Line and is operated by Northern Rail who provide all of the stations passenger services...

 through the town, although this did not initially connect with the main line - trains instead called at nearby Northallerton Town station a short distance away near the point where it passed beneath the line towards Darlington. By 1854 however, both the GNoE and LN had become part of the North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Railway (UK)
The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...

 which soon began running through trains on the LN route via Thirsk
Thirsk railway station
Thirsk railway station serves the town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire, England. The station is north of York on the East Coast Main Line. The station is about outside the town centre and is actually on the edge of the village of Carlton Miniott....

. These then rejoined the line towards Eaglescliffe by means of a new link from the main line at High Junction that was opened in 1856. The original LN route southwards towards Melmerby was then operated as a branch line until 1901, when the NER connected it to the main line via another new junction at the southern end of the station and started using it as the primary route from West Yorkshire to Teesside once more.

Meanwhile the Wensleydale branch line
Wensleydale Railway
The Wensleydale Railway is a railway line in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England and the name of the company that operates services on the line....

 to , Leyburn
Leyburn railway station
Leyburn railway station is on the Wensleydale Railway and serves the town of Leyburn in North Yorkshire, England. During the summer months it is served by at least three trains per day; at other times of the year the service is mainly at weekends and public holidays.The Leyburn branch of the...

 and had been opened in stages between 1848 and 1878 - this joined the main ECML immediately north of the station and its trains used a bay at the northern end of the northbound island platform. Passenger trains on the branch were withdrawn from 26 April 1954, although it remains open for occasional M.o.D
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 trains to and heritage trains operated by the Wensleydale Railway
Wensleydale Railway
The Wensleydale Railway is a railway line in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England and the name of the company that operates services on the line....

. There is however currently no direct route to the branch from the station as its junction faces north and trains must access it by means of a reversing siding off the northbound main line. The defunct south to west curve will need to be reinstated and a new platform constructed before Wensleydale trains can run to and from the station once again (the link to and from Leeming Bar
Leeming Bar railway station
Leeming Bar railway station is the current rail passenger terminus of the Wensleydale Railway and serves the villages of Leeming Bar and Leeming in North Yorkshire, England. Trains are timed to link in with Dales and District service buses to Northallerton to connect with the National Rail network...

 is currently made by bus).

Services were withdrawn on the line towards Ripon
Leeds-Northallerton Railway
The Leeds-Northallerton railway is a partly disused railway line between West and North Yorkshire, in northern England.-History:The line was opened by the Leeds Northern Railway, in the 1850s.The Leeds and Thirsk Railway via Starbeck opened on 9 July 1848....

 on 6 March 1967, the route having been earmarked for closure in the Beeching Report
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...

. The line north-eastwards towards had already lost its local passenger services by this time, but it was retained for freight traffic to and from Teesside and occasional longer distance passenger trains. It now carries a regular service to and from Middlesbrough.

Services

Monday to Saturdays generally two trains an hour go southbound towards York
York railway station
York railway station is a main-line railway station in the city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station...

 and beyond (usually Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport railway station
Manchester Airport railway station is the railway station that serves Manchester Airport and is built into the airport's terminal buildings. The station was opened together with the second airport terminal in 1993.- Description:...

),
and northbound an hourly service to both Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough railway station
Middlesbrough railway station serves the large town of Middlesbrough in the borough of Middlesbrough and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The station is managed by First TransPennine Express and has two platforms...

 and Newcastle
Newcastle Central station
Newcastle railway station , is the mainline station of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building...

 respectively.

Sundays there generally an hourly service towards York and a two-hourly service towards both Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

A few East Coast
East Coast (train operating company)
East Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland...

 services between London Kings Cross and Newcastle and all Grand Central Railway services between London Kings Cross and Sunderland stop at Northallerton each day.

Cross Country services to and from Newcastle
Newcastle railway station
Newcastle railway station , is the mainline station of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building...

 and Scotland pass through Northallerton, but do not call there.

The Future

Under Network Rail's Eureka! timetable, the East Coast services to the station are set to improve drastically. These are the services set to be implemented in May 2011

Northbound:
  • 12:00, 14:58, 19:00 & 21:00 (Monday - Thursday), 22:23 all depart for Newcastle
  • 17:54, 19:00 & 21:00 (Fridays Only) all depart for Edinburgh

Southbound:
  • 05:18 (Mondays Only), 05:28 (Tuesday - Friday), 06:08, 07:13, 09:45, 14:46, 18:51 depart for London Kings Cross.


In the new timetable there is going to be a regular service in both directions. They are as follows:

Northbound:
  • All depart for Newcastle unless stated otherwise: 08:55, 10:55 , 12:55 , 14:55 , 15:55, 16:55, 17:55, 18:57 (Edinburgh), 20:57, 21:53.

Southbound:
  • All for London Kings Cross unless stated otherwise: 05:28, 07:13, 08:08, 09:07, 11:07, 13:07, 15:07, 17:07, 18:08, 21:43, 23:10 (York)
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