Thornton-in-Craven railway station was a railway station that served the small village of

Thornton-in-Craven Thornton-in-Craven is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is approx from the border with Lancashire and north of Earby. Barnoldswick is nearby. The Pennine Way passes through the village, as doe ...

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 ...

(formerly the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

)

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 ...

. It was built by the

Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway was an early British railway company in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It built a line from near Bradford through and to . The Skipton–Colne Line closed in 1970, but the remainder of the line is ...

and opened in 1848. It was simply known as ''Thornton'' with the ''in-Craven'' section not being added to the name until 1937. Situated on the edge of the village and below it, the station closed in 1970 (along with the railway), having previously avoided earlier closure proposals in 1959 and 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 ...

of 1963.Disused Stations - Thornton-in-Craven
''Disused Stations Site Record''; Retrieved 8 May 2017 The closure notice for the villages' railway station was met with indifference as it was pointed out by residents that the bus service was frequent and reliable and the railway station was remote from the village. The service had also been poor in latter years, with just two eastbound and four westbound trains calling each weekday and no calls at all on a Sunday. The last trains ran on Sunday 1 February 1970, with the line closing the next day, Monday 2 February. The track through the station was lifted later that year and the main building on the westbound platform demolished by 1973. The former station house survived demolition and is now privately owned; the trackbed is used as a footpath and

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

and has a parking area for the nearby cricket ground. The railway between Colne and Skipton is proposed for re-opening to enable a cross-Pennine service and allow residents access to Leeds within one hour. This campaign is being promoted by SELRAP (Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership.) One of the scoping reports commissioned by SELRAP notes that between Colne and Skipton, there would be only two intermediate stations at

Foulridge Foulridge (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in Pendle, Lancashire, close to the border with North Yorkshire in England. It is situated just beyond Colne, on the route from the M65 to Skipton, and is an important stopping point on summ ...

and

Earby Earby is a town and civil parish within the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, Earby has been administered by Lancashire County Council since 1974 and regularly cele ...

. Thornton-in-Craven does not appear as a proposal for reopening.

References

External links

Thornton-in-Craven.com pictures
{{Railway stations in Craven Disused railway stations in North Yorkshire Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Beeching closures in England