The Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway (M&G) was a railway line serving the towns of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and Guisborough as well as areas of the Eston Hills in

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 ...

from 1853 to 1964 when the Guisborough terminus closed. More than half the line's original length is still in use as part of the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to

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 ...

History

Beginning

The M&G was backed by

Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to: * Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament ** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pease ...

and his family, one of the major local iron ore mine owners. It was one of two railway schemes (along with the Cleveland Railway) competing for the mining business in the area. The scheme was promoted by the

Stockton & 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 coal mining, collieries near Shildo ...

(S&DR), which worked the line and absorbed it in 1858. The line was opened in 1853 to an iron ore mine at Codhill, and passenger services started a year later, stopping in the villages of

Ormesby Ormesby is an area which is split between Borough of Middlesbrough and Borough of Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Middlesbrough part of the Teesside built up area. Spencer Beck to the east and the B1380 road t ...

Nunthorpe Nunthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the historic county of Yorkshire, North Riding. It is near to the village of Great Ayton and formerly part of the Ayton anci ...

and Pinchinthorpe, before terminating at Guisborough. A private station also existed for the sole use of the Pease family at Hutton Gate for the nearby Hutton Hall. Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway map 1902

Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway map 1902

The Cleveland Railway's original Act was for a line east of Guisborough, but it also developed a rival line across private land branching from further along the S&DR than the M&G, and after permission from the government, its line extended to Guisborough, meaning the town was served by two railway lines. Despite the line's close proximity to the Picton-Battersby Line, it was not until 1865 that the Nunthorpe-Battersby Link was built to connect the two lines.

Part of NER

During 1863-5 both M&G and the Cleveland Railway were absorbed by

NER NER may refer to: * New European Recordings, a record label * ISO 3166-1 three letter code for Niger * Named entity recognition, a text processing task that identifies certain words as belonging to one class or another * Northeast Regional, an Amt ...

and the old Cleveland line was abandoned south of Ormesby. NER then connected the line east of Guisborough to the M&G line before Guisborough, meaning trains had to reverse out of the terminal before continuing along the line to Loftus. It remained this way until its closure in 1960. A new station was built at Pinchinthorpe and in 1904 Hutton Gate was purchased for public use. The remaining stretch of the Cleveland line was connected to the Middlesbrough-Redcar line and was run as a goods service until 1966. Pinchinthorpe station closed in 1951, with Hutton Gate and Guisborough closing when the branch line service from Middlesbrough ended in 1964.

Present day

The line from Nunthorpe Junction to Guisborough closed in 1964 leaving the section from Middlesbrough open to Battersby. This still remains in use as part of the Esk Valley Line, represented by the non-faded part of the diagram.

station was renamed to Marton to take advantage of the

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

connection, and Gypsy Lane was opened. In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).

Gallery

Image:North yorkshire moors railway map.gif, Map of route and surrounding railways

References

{{Railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber Closed railway lines in North East England Railway companies established in 1852 Railway lines opened in 1853 Railway companies disestablished in 1858 1852 establishments in England British companies disestablished in 1858 British companies established in 1852