The York–Scarborough line runs between the city of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and the town of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

in England. Towns and villages served along the way are Malton,

Norton-on-Derwent Norton-on-Derwent, commonly referred to as simply Norton, is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Norton borders the market town of Malton, North Yorkshire, Malton, and is separated from it by the River Derwent, Yorkshire, Rive ...

and Seamer.

History

The line was built by

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 Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...

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 railway station, Norma ...

and opened on 7 July 1845. The line was constructed remarkably quickly by the standards of the time, being approved under the ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. lxi), and taking just one year and three days to complete the route. This feat was possible because the Y&NMR decided against the more costly and time-consuming option of building a tunnel through the

Howardian Hills The Howardian Hills are a range of hills in England located between the Yorkshire Wolds, the North York Moors, and the Vale of York. They are named after the Howard family, who still own land locally, and have been designated a National Land ...

south of Malton. Instead the chosen route meanders with the River Derwent for around four miles, creating a slower but more scenically pleasant experience for passengers. The railway line was opened with a ceremony for invited guests who were taken by

on a train of two engines and 40 first class coaches, which left York at 11:00 am. The line was initially single track and the journey to Scarborough took three and a half hours. In Scarborough the guests were treated to a lunch. After a return journey to York, the guests were treated to dinner in the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, hosted by the Lord Mayor of York. The new railway included a 6-mile branch from to Pickering that connected with the horse-worked

Whitby and Pickering Railway The Whitby and Pickering Railway (W&P) was built to halt the gradual decline of the Port of Whitby, port of Whitby on the east coast of England. Its basic industries—whaling and shipbuilding—had been in decline and it was believed that op ...

which the Y&NMR immediately proceeded to take over and upgrade for steam traction. Most of the intermediate stations on the line were closed to passengers in September 1930 as the number of excursion and holiday trains going straight through to Scarborough during that period meant that the line lacked the capacity to accommodate stopping local services. These services were already seeing a significant decline in passenger numbers prior to their withdrawal due to increased bus competition in the area. The closed stations retained their goods facilities and were maintained for occasional passenger use by excursion trains until the 1960s.

Modern

There are currently plans to re-open the stations at and

Strensall Strensall is a village in the Strensall with Towthorpe civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Foss north of York and north-east of Haxby. In 2001 the parish had a population of 3,81 ...

due to the growth of population in those areas. There have been suggestions to re-open these stations since 1990 when it was pointed out that if they were inside a metropolitan county, then they would be re-opened very quickly. In January 2009 funding to re-open Haxby station was confirmed but the Strensall plan has yet to come to fruition. In 2014, work started on replacing the 1840s built

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

that carries the railway over the River Ouse. Network Rail spent £6 million on the entire project and used boats and pontoons floated on the River Ouse to reach the bridge. The new bridge opened to traffic on 23 February 2015. The route has 89 level crossings between York and Scarborough; 12 are supervised, 10 automatic and 67 are user worked crossings. All supervised and automatic crossings and the residual seven signal boxes en route will be closed and control handed over to the

York Rail Operating Centre York Rail Operating Centre (also known as York ROC) is a Rail operating centre (ROC) located at the south western end of railway station in York, England. The site is one of twelve that will control all signalling across the mainland of the Uni ...

by 2025.

Services

Services operated along this line are run by

TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...

. Services are roughly hourly and operate to and from either York or Manchester. This is part of the North TransPennine route. Rolling stock on this line has consisted almost entirely of Class 185 DMUs since early 2007. However some Class 802 bi-mode units are also used as of 2025. Scarborough also sees steam-hauled summer specials from York, hauled by various preserved steam locomotives. These have run most summers since 2002 under the name ''Scarborough Spa Express.'' There is also talk of reinstating the pre-1965 link to Pickering to connect 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 Ge ...

to the national network from its southern end, allowing trains from Malton and beyond to reach

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

. Such a move has been considered but does not seem likely for the foreseeable future.

Incidents

On 25 August 1845 the 12:15 train from York came off the rails a quarter of a mile south of Kirkham Abbey, in the vicinity of Crambe, due to subsidence of an embankment beside the River Derwent. Thomas Cabry was on the engine and hurt his foot in the process. (Brian Lewis 1994: The Cabry Family, p.31). On 3 February 2009, a car hit the back of a train passing over Knapton level crossing. The driver was taken to hospital, but he was not kept in. There were no casualties on the train. The level crossing is an AHBC – automatic half barrier crossing.

References

External links

Details of proposals to construct halt at Scarborough Mere
{{DEFAULTSORT:York-Scarborough line Rail transport in North Yorkshire Railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber Rail transport in York Transport in Scarborough, North Yorkshire