Forge Valley Line

v t e Forge Valley Line
Legend
Scarborough & Whitby Railway Falsgrave Tunnel Scarborough Central Scarborough Londesborough Road Falsgrave Junction Washbeck Viaduct Seamer Yorkshire Coast Line Seamer Junction York to Scarborough Line A64 Irton Waterworks River Derwent Forge Valley A170 Wykeham A170 Sawdon Brompton Beck Snainton Crossover Ebberston Thornton Dale Rillington Mill Lane Junction Gilling and Pickering Line Pickering North Yorkshire Moors Railway

The Forge Valley Line was a 16-mile-long branch of the

A railway running east–west across the Vale of Pickering was first proposed in 1864. This intent was that this line would actually travel up the Forge Valley and connect with a line between Whitby and Scarborough at Scalby. However, due to local land owners objecting and the fact that the railway between Whitby and Scarborough had not been built, the idea was scrapped.^[1]

The

The line ran quite close to the Pickering to Scarborough Road (now the A170), and some of its stations were some distance from the villages that it claimed to serve. As a consequence, the rural bus service that started up in the 20th century took patronage away from the line, and, despite using steam railcars and push-pull trains, the passenger numbers dropped.^[4]

The line closed to passengers completely in June 1950, with closure to all traffic between Thornton Dale and Seamer at the same time.^[5] Beyond that time, a small section extending for 2.5 miles (4 km) from Pickering to Thornton Dale was kept open to serve quarries at Thornton Dale.^[6] This last section was removed in January 1963.^[7]

The route

The line covered 16 miles (26 km), or 19 miles (31 km) if the last 3 miles (4.8 km) from Seamer station to Scarborough station are included, and was single-track throughout with a passing loop at Snainton.^[7][8][9] It had no major engineering works or gradients of note, with only a few sections steeper than 1 in 100.^[10] Six stations were constructed on the line, Forge Valley, Wykeham, Sawdon, Snainton, Ebberston and Thornton Dale.^[11]

Post closure

Thornton Dale, Ebberston, Snainton, Sawdon and Wykeham have now been restored, and there are three camping coaches at Ebberston.^[12]

Wykeham also survives and there are plans to restore the station itself. Whilst the other stations on the line are completely restored, Forge Valley is now currently in use by North Yorkshire County Council as a road and highways depot.^[13]

References