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, Redcar and Cleveland 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 The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...

as the terminus of their line from

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 ...

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 Brotton (the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway) 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 the passenger trains from the town to Loftus and Whitby 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 Leeds and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. There was also a short siding extension (approximately ) from the main station to another platform at the rear of the railway-owned

Zetland Hotel The Zetland Hotel is located on the north east coast of England at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire. It was designed by William Peachey, architect to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The seaside resort of Saltburn was developed by ...

(opened in 1863) 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 (though most trains use platform 1) 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.

Facilities

It is unmanned, and has two acrylic glass passenger shelters, bench seating and an electronic information board. A self-service ticket machine has also been installed to allow intending passenger to buy tickets prior to travel or collect pre-paid tickets. Step-free access is available 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 (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.

Services

As of the May 2021 timetable change, the station is served by two trains per hour between Saltburn and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

via Middlesbrough, with one train per hour extending to

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

. An hourly service operates between Saltburn and Bishop Auckland on Sunday. All services are operated by Northern Trains. Northern operates Class 156 and Class 158s. In May 2022, TransPennine Express extended a few services from Redcar Central to Saltburn. It is planned to introduce hourly services to

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

in December 2022.Cautious changes for post Covid era '' Modern Railways'' issue 884 May 2022 page 64

References

Sources

*Binns, D. (1981), ''Railways Around Skipton'', Wyvern Publications, Skipton. *Body, G. (1988), ''PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2'', Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough,

External links

* * {{Railway stations served by TransPennine Express Railway stations in Redcar and Cleveland DfT Category F1 stations Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1861 Northern franchise railway stations Railway stations served by TransPennine Express 1861 establishments in England William Peachey railway stations Saltburn-by-the-Sea