Ulleskelf railway station serves

Ulleskelf Ulleskelf is a village and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, four miles from Tadcaster on the River Wharfe. Its name comes from the Scandinavian personal name ''Úlfr'', while ''skelf'' is an Old English term mea ...

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. The station is south of

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 ...

History

The station opened on 29 May 1839 on 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 ...

near where it crossed the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale. ...

. The station appears to have been subsequently redesigned and slightly relocated following the construction of the bridge carrying New Road (the B1223) over the tracks: the 1849 Ordnance Survey map (which predates the bridge) implies that the first station building was either adjacent to, and at right angles to, the Ulleskelf Arms public house, or directly across the track from the pub on West End Road. Neither of these two candidate buildings survives. The map drawn from the 1888 survey shows the station in its current position on the south side of the new road bridge, with a new access road from the east end of the bridge across Hall Garth to the junction of Main Street and a newly-extended Church Fenton Lane. This map shows the station alongside a goods yard built on the site shown to be a plant nursery on the 1849 map. Further evidence of this change in layout is the existence of the terrace called 'Station Cottages' on Main Street at the junction of Church Fenton Lane, now some 200m north of, and out of sight of, the modern station. The station avoided 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 ...

in the mid 1960s due to the poor road network in the area (there being no easily accessible road bridge over the river for York-bound commuters). Today the station is unstaffed with all trains operated by

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

. Though there are four tracks in the vicinity, the

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

only serves the eastern pair.

Accidents and incidents

*On 24 November 1906, a passenger train overran signals and ran into the rear of a freight train. * On 8 December 1981, a York to Liverpool express derailed north of the station. Whilst the locomotive stayed upright, all the carriages de-railed and carriages six and seven rolled down a steep bank. This resulted in 24 people requiring hospitalisation with nine of those being serious. One man later died of his injuries. The cause of the derailment was found to be a crack in one of the rails of the Up Normanton line.

Services

Eighteen trains call at Ulleskelf on weekdays and Saturdays. Nine to northbound and three to , three to (with one of those continuing to ) and three to (with one of those continuing to ) southbound. Thirteen trains call here on Sundays: six trains to York, two to Sheffield, four to Hull and one to . In December 1997, a wheelchair accessible footbridge opened.

Modernisation/electrification

In May 2021 as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, it was confirmed electrification of the line between

and

Church Fenton Church Fenton or Kirk Fenton is a village and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England. It is about east of Leeds, about south-east from Tadcaster and north from Sherburn in Elmet. Neighbouring villages include Barkston ...

would happen along with other upgrades. Further confirmation of the upgrade came from the publishing in November 2021 of the

Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands or more simply, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent ser ...

(IRP) which includes full

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

between York through Church Fenton to Manchester.

References

External links

Railway stations in North Yorkshire DfT Category F2 stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1839 Northern franchise railway stations Former York and North Midland Railway stations George Townsend Andrews railway stations {{Yorkshire-Humber-railstation-stub