Wharram railway station was opened by the

Malton and Driffield Railway The Malton and Driffield Junction Railway, later known as the ''Malton and Driffield branch'' was a railway line in Yorkshire that ran between the towns of Malton, North Yorkshire and Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The line opened ...

in May 1853, serving the village of

Wharram-le-Street Wharram-le-Street is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wharram, in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1974 local government reorganisation Wharram-le-Street was part of the East Riding of Yorkshir ...

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, although the area was in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

at the time. The station was also near the

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

Wharram Percy Wharram Percy is a deserted medieval village and former civil parish near Malton, North Yorkshire, on the western edge of the chalk Wolds of North Yorkshire, England. It is about south of Wharram-le-Street and is signposted from the Beverley ...

and adjacent to Wharram chalk quarry. The single platform station had a

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 ...

off its southern end, the only one on the line. It had the customary goods facilities for wayside stations, plus a siding into Wharram Quarry, dominated by a large chalk silo. The line was originally conceived as part of a trunk route between Kingston-upon-Hull and the North East of England, but this came to very little. The station remained throughout its life as a country station on a country byway. In some periods of its life four passenger trains a day ran in each direction between and , calling at all stations between, but for the most part just three called, with no Sunday service after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. These trains were nicknamed the "Malton Dodger". They usually had either one or two coaches, often strengthened by one or more horse boxes in this racing country. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, intermittent excursion traffic called at Wharram to view the station's floral displays and well as the area's scenery. In the summer of 1950, the station witnessed the passing of a Summer Saturday Filey to Newcastle train and return, which travelled via , Wharram and , joining the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

at Pilmoor Junction. The station and line closed to passenger traffic in June 1950. Although it was said to be reasonably loaded on Saturdays (Market Days), it carried few people except schoolchildren otherwise. The line and station were reopened to passengers in February 1953 and February 1958 when the area's roads were impassable due to snow. Freight traffic and occasional passenger specials continued until the line closed completely on 20 October 1958, the last pickup goods having called on the 18th. The quarry had "followed a similar pattern to North Grimston - rapid expansion in the post-First World War boom, enormous output in the 1920s, declining in the 1930s and fizzling out after the Second World war." In 1919 a private siding was built in the quarry with exits in both directions onto the running line. Traffic growth was dramatic, peaking in 1925 with 107,261 tons of chalk forwarded to Thirsk, bypassing Malton as the line had originally been conceived. This was down to 38,562 tons in 1926 and to a mere 3,000 tons in 1929. The quarry closed in 1930. It reopened later in the 1930s, but its output was sporadic and small scale, mainly travelling by road in bags. Such rail traffic as there mainly coal for the quarry's kilns. The quarry was disused by 1960 and has become a wildlife reserve. The track was lifted shortly after closure, but the station building remained in use as a private residence. In 2005 the station's water tower remained in place. WharramTower

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