Harrogate Railway Station
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Harrogate railway station serves the town of
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...
in
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 ...
. Located on the Harrogate Line it is north of
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
.
Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...
operate the station and provide local passenger train services, with a
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...
service to and from
London King's Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United King ...
running six times per day.


History

The station was opened by the North Eastern Railway on 1 August 1862. It was designed by the architect Thomas Prosser and was the first building in Harrogate built of brick and had two platforms. Before it opened (and the associated approach lines), the town's rail routes had been somewhat fragmented – the
York and North Midland Railway The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first c ...
branch line from via
Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...
had a terminus in the town (see below), but the
Leeds Northern Railway The Leeds Northern Railway (LNR), originally the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, was an English railway company that built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk. In 1845 the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission for ...
main line between Leeds and bypassed it to the east to avoid costly engineering work to cross the Crimple Valley and the
East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway The East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway was a railway company established in 1846 between the Leeds and Thirsk Railway at Knaresborough and the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway near York, England. The company merged into the York and No ...
from terminated at . Once the individual companies had become part of the NER, the company concentrated all lines at a new single depot. A storm in November 1866 caused a chimney stack to fall through the station roof causing considerable damage. In 1873, a footbridge was added. The booking office was robbed on 7 December 1868 when thieves drilled through the ticket window covering with a bit and brace, and stole a small amount of cash. The station platforms were lengthened by 100 yards in 1883, largely as a result of the opening of a second route to Leeds via (the
Cross Gates to Wetherby Line A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
) in 1876. In 1892, the actor, Harry Fischer, was shot at by Violet Gordon at the station. She missed and was arrested by the police. The station was largely demolished in 1964/65 and replaced with a more utilitarian one (with fewer platforms) by Taylor Bown and Miller, Architects (Harrogate). A car park now occupies the site of the former
bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and islan ...
s on the south side. It coincided with the loss of three of the main routes through the town in the
Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
– both routes via Wetherby closed to passenger traffic on 6 January 1964 and the Leeds Northern route to via on 6 March 1967. The York branch was included in Beeching's 1963 report, but it was reprieved in 1966 and remains open. The original, attractive wrought iron footbridge remained until the mid 2000s when it was taken down and replaced by a modern plain steel one further down the platform. The station was serviced by a cafe called the 'Circle Bar' until its closure in the 1990s.


Station Masters

*Charles Matthews ca. 1862 – 1874 *James Richardson 1874 – 1899 *Francis Purvis 1899 – 1921 *William Parker 1922 – 1927 (formerly station master at Durham) *James K. Shaw 1927 – 1934 (formerly station master at Penistone) *James Craig 1934 – 1936 (afterwards station master at Glasgow Queen Street) *R. A. Dawes 1936 – 1940 (formerly station master at Wakefield Westgate) *T. Arnott 1940 (afterwards station master at Selby) *Albert Ernest Purnell 1941 – 1943 (formerly station master at Bridlington) *J. A. Wilson 1943 – 1950 (formerly station master at Northallerton) *W. J. Thomas 1950 – 1952 *R. B. King 1961 – ???? (formerly station master at Ripon) *Frederick Longbottom ???? – 1963 *R. W. Irving 1963 – ???? (formerly station manager at Saltburn)


Facilities

The station has a staffed ticket office open seven days a week (except late evenings), along with ticket machines. Facilities include a newsagent, key cutters, ATMs, a cafe, photo booths and a waiting room, all located on the main concourse on Platform 1. The station has three platforms, but only platforms 1 and 3 are in operation – platform 2 (an east-facing bay) is not in public use. Full step-free access is available to both main platforms and they are linked by a footbridge with lifts. Ticket barriers were installed in early 2017.


Services

The Monday to Sunday service is generally 2tph to
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
(southbound); and 2tph to
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
Services increase in frequency at peak time to
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, resulting in 3tph (trains per hour). Late evenings an hourly service operates between Leeds, Harrogate and York.
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...
operates six daily services to and from London King's Cross on Mondays to Saturdays. These trains also provide a third hourly clockface service to Leeds every two hours.


Harrogate (Brunswick) station

Harrogate's first railway station, Brunswick, was the terminus of
York and North Midland Railway The York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was an English railway company that opened in 1839 connecting York with the Leeds and Selby Railway, and in 1840 extended this line to meet the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds. Its first c ...
's branch line and the first train arrived there on 20 July 1848. The station was situated on the site where Trinity Methodist Church now stands, close to the Prince of Wales roundabout and some distance from either High or Low Harrogate.Bilton Historical Society
, accessed 18 September 2007
When the new line of the North Eastern Railway entered Harrogate via a cutting through The Stray, Brunswick closed and the first train into the town centre station was on 1 August 1862.


Ripon Railway

The town was previously served by a railway, the Leeds-Northallerton Line that ran between
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
and
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 ...
via this station and Ripon. It was once part of the North Eastern Railway and then
LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...
. The site is now occupied by Starbeck railway station. The Ripon Line was closed to passengers on 6 March 1967 and to freight on 5 September 1969 as part of the wider
Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
, despite a vigorous campaign by local campaigners, including the city's MP. Today much of the route of the line through the city is now a relief road and although the former station still stands, it is now surrounded by a new housing development. The issue remains a significant one in local politics and there are movements wanting to restore the line. Reports suggest the reopening of a line between
Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...
and Harrogate railway station would be economically viable, costing £40 million and could initially attract 1,200 passengers a day, rising to 2,700. Campaigners call on MPs to restore Ripon railway link.


References


External links

{{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Railway stations in Harrogate DfT Category C1 stations Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Northern franchise railway stations Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway 1862 establishments in England Thomas Prosser railway stations