![Whitby and Pickering railway map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Whitby_and_Pickering_railway_map.jpg)
The Whitby and Pickering Railway (W&P) was built to halt the gradual decline of the port of
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...
on the east coast of England. Its basic industries—whaling and shipbuilding—had been in decline and it was believed that opening transport links inland would help regenerate the town and port.
Until the
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
to
Pickering was opened in 1759, Whitby was better connected to the rest of the country by sea than by land; even then the difficult climb over the high moors was an obstacle.
Stagecoach services did not start until 1795 and
mail coach
A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. M ...
es (thrice weekly) until 1823.
The Whitby and Pickering Railway opened in stages in 1836 (being one of the earliest railways in Yorkshire) and was worked by horses until it was absorbed into 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 ...
in 1845 and was converted into a conventional
double tracked steam-worked railway.
History
The W&P, a horse drawn railway
In 1795 it was proposed to construct a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
from Whitby to Pickering along much the same course as the later railway. After the success of the
Stockton and Darlington Railway, which had a number of Whitby backers, attention switched to the possibility of a railway from Whitby to either
Stockton or Pickering. Many pamphlets were issued for or against the various proposals; copies of some can be found in the library of the
Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society. In 1832
George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians
In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...
was asked to report on the rival routes. Stephenson's report favoured a horse-worked railway to Pickering and his conclusion was accepted at a meeting in Whitby on 14 September 1832. The Whitby and Pickering Railway bill received the royal assent, from William IV, on 6 May 1833.
The directors of the W&P Company mainly came from Whitby or the immediate area and represented a cross section of the business community, including bankers, solicitors, shipbuilders and ship owners. The shareholders came from a wider area, some from London but those from the immediate area predominated.
Construction and engineering
![WandP press cuttings -032](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/WandP_press_cuttings_-032.jpg)
The W&P directors invited the first tenders for the construction of at the Whitby end of the railway by August 1833 and in October 1834 tenders for the final 8.5 miles (the 'central division' of the railway) were invited. The tender was awarded to Hamer and Pratt, who had just finished work on the
Leeds and Selby Railway
The Leeds and Selby Railway was an early British railway company and first mainline railway within Yorkshire. It was opened in 1834.
As built, the line ran west/east between two termini, Marsh Lane station, Leeds and Selby railway station. Th ...
.
There was an intention to link the W&P 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 ...
and beyond; a meeting held in York in September 1834 to further the proposed railway from York 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 popula ...
was attended by a W&P delegation accompanied by engineer, George Stephenson, to lobby for a link to Pickering.
The meeting may have been the first meeting of George Stephenson and
George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...
and bore fruit even though the York to Leeds Line was not built for some years.
The Whitby and Pickering Railway (W&P), was one of the first railways in Yorkshire, when it opened in 1836 as a single track horse worked railway. Its total length was 24 miles.
George Stephenson planned to ascend from the valley of the Murk Esk at Beckhole to the high moors at
Goathland
Goathland is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is in the North York Moors national park due north of Pickering, off the A169 to Whitby. I ...
by means of a long
rope-worked incline at an average gradient of 1 in 15. ''"The method of working was that of a self‑acting incline common in mines, but here, differing from the case of a mine, the load was equal each way, and so there was attached to each train a water‑tank ; this was filled with water at the top of the incline, and its preponderating weight as it descended pulled the other train up the hill ; arrived at the bottom, the water‑tank was emptied and was sent up with the next train"''.
[Smith, J. F., (1888) ''Frederick Swanwick: A Sketch,'' Printed for private circulation]
He would cross Fen Bog, near the summit of the line, using the same method, hurdles and fascines, he had previously used to cross
Chat Moss
Chat Moss is a large area of peat bog that makes up part of the City of Salford, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. It also makes up part of Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside and Warringto ...
on the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...
.
The track consisted of
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
fish-bellied rails in lengths with five 'bellies' to each length, at 40 lb. to the yard.
Cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
chairs supported the rail between each 'belly', special double chairs supported the joints between lengths of rail. The chairs were fastened to locally quarried stone blocks using iron pins. A length of original track is displayed at
Pickering Station.
Stephenson in fact acted mainly in an advisory capacity, having delegated the work to his chief engineer
Frederick Swanwick
Frederick Swanwick (1810–1885) was an English civil engineer who assisted George and Robert Stephenson. He was responsible for much of the work on railways in the North and Midlands of England, particularly the Whitby and Pickering Railway a ...
.
[
The W&P obtained materials by tender and suppliers were from many parts of the country; the rails, chairs and pins (which were in short supply partly due to heavy demand) were obtained from well-known suppliers including Bradley & Foster's Stourbridge Ironworks, the Capponfield Ironworks near ]Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, the Nantyglo Ironworks, Monmouthshire and the Bedlington Ironworks
Bedlington Ironworks, in Blyth Dene, Northumberland, England, operated between 1736 and 1867. It is most remembered as the place where wrought iron rails were invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820, which triggered the railway age, with their fir ...
in Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
. Supplies largely travelled by water. The surviving W&P minute books in the National Archives show that supplies from the Midlands travelled by narrow boat to Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...
, where they were transshipped to coasters for forwarding to Whitby, others travelled by boat to Malton on the Derwent Navigation and were forwarded to Pickering by ox-cart.[
]
The total cost of the line was £80,000, but with extra land purchased for probable enlargements, the cost was about £105,000, or £4,400 per mile. As one commentator put it ''"This is a good example of careful and conscientious work, no unnecessary expenditure, but a railway suited to the needs of the time, constructed at the smallest possible cost."''[
]
Operations and traffic
Although the W&P had been promoted to carry coal, stone, timber and limestone, it was intended to carry passengers from the start and three coaches were obtained (the first, from Beeston & Melling of Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
) which were basically stage coaches adapted for use on a railway and a number of cheaper open market coaches were obtained, probably locally. The first class coaches were named ''Premier'', ''Transit'' and ''Lady Hilda''.
The W&P was never a well off company and the directors were anxious to carry passengers and goods at the earliest opportunity and on Monday 8 June 1835 the line between Whitby and the Tunnel Inn (now Grosmont) was opened, and its first class coach, Premier left Whitby at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, returning about 8 o'clock. The company subsequently ran two return journeys per day except on Sundays.
In July 1835, for Ruswarp
Ruswarp village lies within the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. It is around from Whitby, at the junction of the B1410 and B1416 roads, on the River Esk and the Esk Valley Line, with trains stopping at Ruswarp railway s ...
Fair the company provided a special coach that ran sixteen trips during the day between Whitby and Ruswarp which proved very popular some passengers travelling repeatedly because of the novelty.
When the whole line opened on 26 May 1836, the W&P operated a regular passenger service which connected at Pickering with the stagecoach to York and the rest of the developing railway network. There is a recorded instance of a ship from the Baltic docking at Whitby and its captain finding orders awaiting him to proceed to Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
. He took the W&P coach to Pickering connecting to York where he boarded a train for Manchester (connecting by coach over the incomplete part of the Leeds and Manchester Railway) and completed his journey to Liverpool by train – the whole journey only took hours, whereas it could have taken many days only a few years earlier.
Whilst the introduction of railways (steam or horse powered) generally spelt the end of coach services on directly competing routes, it provided opportunities for feeder coach services as shown on the advertisement for 'The Queen' coach put on between Scarborough, Pickering and Helmsley only two months after the W&P opened.
The Y&NM, the introduction of steam power
When the W&P was absorbed into 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 ...
in 1845 and into George Hudson's growing empire, the railway was rebuilt as a double track steam-worked railway and connected to the Y&NM's York to Scarborough Line
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 ...
being built at Rillington junction. Through rail journeys became possible from Whitby to the industrial districts of the West Riding
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 ...
, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, London and other destinations. Whitby became accessible to day-tripper
A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...
s and holidaymakers. To encourage traffic George Hudson formed a company to develop the West Cliff in Whitby, building roads and hotels before work stopped at Hudson's downfall in 1849.
With a connected national rail network the Royal Mail used the railways to carry mail. The first train from York to Whitby each morning was the mail train, a train that continued running for the best part of one hundred and twenty years.
The conversion of the line from horse to steam power took place in stages; the first steam train service between Pickering and Levisham started on 1 September 1846 using a single track. By the following year a second track had been laid and was passed for use by Her Majesty's Railway Inspector Captain RE Coddington in a report dated 8 June 1847 following an inspection three days earlier. The same report did not approve opening the line between Levisham and the 'top of the Incline' at Goathland as 'over this portion the rails were ill adjusted, the sleepers irregular, the ballasting incomplete & some pairs of Contractors joints & shifting Rails remaining'. Approval was given for opening the line from the bottom of the Incline to Whitby but allowed the use of only a single engine.
A further report dated 30 June 1847 following a second inspection the previous day, found a much improved state of affairs, one track was complete and the second within a day of completion. Captain Coddington summed up that 'I am of opinion that the line may be opened with safety on the 1st Inst according to the wish of the Company'. It is clear from Capt. Coddington's reports that the horse-drawn coaches continued to run until replaced by steam trains.
The wooden sleepers required for rebuilding the line appear to have been imported from the Baltic to Whitby, details of several shiploads of sleepers are held in the National Archives.
Following the discovery of apparent financial irregularities by George Hudson, the Y&NM appointed a committee of investigation whose four printed reports includes severe criticism of the purchase and conversion of the W&P:.[
]
Your Committee have no precise information with respect to the manner in which this purchase was brought about, but it would seem that the proposal came in the first instance from the directors of the Whitby & Pickering Company. The powers to make the branch line from the Scarbro’ Railway to connect it with the Whitby & Pickering Railway at Pickering, were included in the Bill for the Scarborough Line, and in January 1844, a Special Meeting of the Shareholders of the Whitby & Pickering Railway was held to give their formal assent to the proposed terminus of this company’s line at Pickering. At that meeting, the directors informed the shareholders that they had been in communication with Mr.Hudson for the sale of the line to the York & North Midland Railway Company and requested their authority to continue the negotiation, which was given.
The original cost of the railway was £135,000, but at the time of the negotiation it was scarcely paying the expenses of working it; £30,000 was the extreme market value of the entire concern, so that the prospective increased value must have been estimated at £50,000. The line itself, it will be seen, does not pay the interest on the purchase money alone, and the enormous outlay in converting it from a Horse to an Engine line is entirely unproductive.
Your Committee cannot sufficiently condemn this most improvident bargain, and the unjustified extravagance in the subsequent outlay.
Elsewhere in the reports the Committee of Investigation summarise the costs (to date) for the Whitby branch:
To purchase of Whitby & Pickering (horse) Railway, 23½ miles (£80,000) and reconstruct it for locomotives. Authorized share and loan capital £180,000. Estimated expenditure to 30th June 1849: £468,000.
They also summarise the operating income and expenditure (in an extract from details covering the whole Y&NM):
Total traffic for year 1848
Whitby & Pickering £11,323
Working charges including depreciation, duty & rates £8,172
Net Receipts £3,151
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 ...
was one of three railways that formed the North Eastern Railway in 1854. In 1923 The North Eastern Railway was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the grouping of the railways following 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 ...
. In 1948 all the major railway companies in Great Britain were nationalised forming British Railways.
Closure and rebirth
The line from Rillington Junction to Whitby closed as a result of the Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...
along with most of Whitby's railway links. The Esk Valley Line was reprieved saving of the original W&P between Whitby and Grosmont.
In 1967 the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Preservation Society (NYMRPS) was formed with the aim of preserving the line between Grosmont and Pickering and re-opened as a Heritage Steam Railway. The NYMRPS became a charitable trust, the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd and succeeded in re-opening the line as the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by Geor ...
(NYMR) in 1973. The route of the W&P survived.
On 8 February 2005 the Company was re-born as a private company for the benefit of the NYMR and is registered at Companies House in name with NYMR operating the route.
In 2007 the NYMR obtained the necessary powers and agreements to operate steam trains over the Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
line from Grosmont to Whitby and as far as Battersby, the first UK heritage railway to do so; so steam trains once again run between Whitby and Pickering.
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
**Based on an article on written for the Railway Magazine
''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly United Kingdom, British railway magazine, aimed at the Railfan, railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the ...
aimed at attracting extra passenger traffic to the Whitby branch during the quieter autumn period of 1899. Potter's research papers are held at the National Archive Ref. No. RAIL 742/4.
*
*
Archives
*
**Also North Eastern Railway Muniments at RAIL 527
*The North Yorkshire Moors Railway
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by Geor ...
Archives hold a little W&P material and much more from the NER, LNER & BR periods. Access by appointment.
Further reading
*
External links
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
North Eastern Railway Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitby And Pickering Railway
Early British railway companies
Railway companies established in 1833
Railway lines opened in 1836
Railway companies disestablished in 1845
Horse-drawn railways
York and North Midland Railway
North York Moors
Rail transport in North Yorkshire
British companies established in 1833
British companies disestablished in 1845