Bedale railway station is on the

Wensleydale Railway The Wensleydale Railway is a heritage railway in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in stages by different railway companies and originally extended to railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line. Since ...

and serves the town of

Bedale Bedale ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north of Leeds, south-west of Middlesbrough and south-west of the county town of ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

First opened by the ''Bedale and Leyburn Railway'' in November 1855, the station very nearly did not get built at all as the initial plans for the Leeming to

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in the district of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'Ley ...

route would have completely bypassed the town. This problem was subsequently corrected (following a major outcry in the locality) and by May 1856, passenger services had started running between

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a 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 had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

and Leyburn. These were subsequently extended to

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

and Hawes Junction (later Garsdale) by the North Eastern Railway in 1878. Bedale railway station 1776958 da0c58bf

Although the section between Bedale and Leeming was doubled by the turn of the century, the station never received a second platform as the line became single again before passing through it and the adjacent

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

. Services were always modest at best, with a basic timetable of between five and seven trains each way operating right up until the closure of the line to passengers in April 1954, less than a decade after

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

took over the line upon

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the UK network. The platform was given a moderate facelift in 1970 when the Royal Train was stabled overnight in the station. The Queen was on a ceremonial visit to the nearby Catterick military complex. The station remained open for goods traffic for many years after the cessation of passenger trains (until 1982) and even then the platform and signal box survived (the latter to supervise the crossing and the last remaining

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

on the otherwise single track route). Limestone trains from

Redmire Redmire is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about west of Leyburn in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. Transport Redmire is the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway. The Ministry of ...

to the steelworks at

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

ended in December 1992, but the line was subsequently retained for use by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

to move military hardware to and from

Catterick Garrison Catterick Garrison is a major garrison and military town south of Richmond, North Yorkshire, England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world, with a population of around 13,000 in 2017 and covering over 2,400 acres (about 10& ...

via a new transshipment facility at Redmire.

Preservation

The Wensleydale Railway Company took over the station after leasing the branch from

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

in the spring of 2003, with services returning to Bedale in 2004 for the first time in 50 years. The WRC use the surviving station building and the adjacent brick-built signal box. Trains currently operate between Leeming and Redmire, but the company hopes to eventually rebuild the currently derelict section of the line west of Redmire and run services all the way from Northallerton to

Garsdale Garsdale is a dale or valley in the south east of Cumbria, England, historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is now within the South Lakeland local government district, but is still a "Yorkshire Dale" for planning purposes. In t ...

. The Class 31 D5584 diesel locomotive shown in the heading image was operating a Sunday evening special.

The signal box

The signal box and the station are actually in

Aiskew Aiskew is a village in the civil parish of Aiskew and Leeming Bar, in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated to the immediate north-east of Bedale and separated from it by Bedale Beck. History Remains of ...

by Parish boundary definitions (the traditional parish boundary was

Bedale Beck Bedale Beck is a river that flows through the eastern end of Wensleydale and passes through Crakehall, Bedale and Leeming before entering the River Swale at a point between Morton-on-Swale and Gatenby. Between source and mouth its length is . ...

). However, the signal box was given Grade II Listed Status in February 1993 and as such, it is now in the Bedale Conservation area. The box is believed to have been designed by G T Andrews.

References

{{Railway stations in Hambleton District Heritage railway stations in North Yorkshire Wensleydale Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1855 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2004 Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations