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great northern
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Sidney Weighell, General Secretary of the NUR from 1975 to 1982 and previously a footplateman in the Northallerton area, included a chapter on the Wensleydale Branch in his 1984 book A Hundred Years of Railway Weighells. (His brother was also a driver, his father a signalman and his grand father a guard.) 

 

One of his more amusing anecdotes concerns an occasion during the  war when his 16 year old fireman neglected to fill the tank of their G5 at Northallerton.  Arriving at Ainderby, Weighell checked the tank to find it was nearly empty.  He chose to drive on to Leeming Bar and persuaded the driver of the D20 on a train in the other direction to swap locomotives.  The shed master was left nonplussed as to how he had a tender engine at Leyburn where he should have had a tank engine, and vice versa!

 

I have a great liking for the North York Moors and coast and it is a shame the lines in this area were closed.  However, Weighell was an advocate of reintroducing a tourist service on the Wensleydale line, which had lost its passenger service prior to Beeching.  His intimate knowledge, combined with the successful re-opening of the lower part of the line to passenger traffic, the continuing (military) freight traffic to Redmire, and the reinvigoration of the Settle and Carlisle, lead me to the conclusion that closure of the Wensleydale branch was the biggest mistake in this area of the country.

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The Leeds Northern from Harrogate through Ripon to Northallerton.

 

How can a town the size of Ripon not have a railway line? And would be a useful diversionary route for when Northallerton to York is blocked.

 

(I originally nominated the ex-GNR line over the hills through Queensbury to Keighley - but then I reminded myself we are supposed to be nominating stupid and short-sighted closures!)

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My vote goes to Scarborough To Whitby and points north, via Robin Hoods Bay - closely followed by Malton to Grosmont.

 

I suppose I should also give a mention to the "Methley Joint Railway" - as paternal Grandfather was sent by the GNR to work at Stanley on the MJR in 1912 - so Father was born a Yorkshire man.

 

Regards

Chris H

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For myself it’s back to the long gone Beverley to Market Weighton, Pocklington, Stamford Bridge and York line. I can only give a few details here, I’ve books about the line and various websites. 
Briefly, in the Beeching Report it was stated there were, on average, 57 passengers per two car DMU. Level crossings were a serious issue, with 19 of them. It had been proposed, under the Centralised Traffic Control scheme, of the late 1950’s to modernise the line. It was to have been made single track, with passing loops at Market Weighton and Pocklington, with the level crossings being converted to AHB operations. It was estimated that the line would have broken even by the late 1960’s. Of course, Beeching abandoned all of that.

So, a main cross country line was closed down on 29th November, 1965, all to save some £81,000 per annum. Everyone has to go round via Selby and Church Fenton, at a greater journey time too. I recall my Grandmother asking how people from Market Weighton were supposed to go to York by train via Selby. She never received an answer from BR.

 

Rob.

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12 minutes ago, great northern said:

To celebrate, another shot of a shiny Haymarket A4. I know you like those. It is also under the roof, and people seem to like those images too.

 

 

904496437_312under.JPG.73ecfaf85d9ec58f4b75513373ce8645.jpg.bd0829b163893a58bc06a306627f49b8.jpg

 

Particularly if cropped a little to increase impact (if I may be so bold?) Loco front, as the focal point of the image, now in the bottom left 'golden section' area.

The impression of 'turning heads' viz-a-viz the people on the right hand side works really well (nothing to do with my cropping!)

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I'll go for the Leeds Northern from Harrogate to Ripon and Northallerton as well.

 

I was living in Harrogate when it closed, it was a sad day.

 

David

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7 hours ago, great northern said:

Today, let's try the rest of Yorkshire. I bet that will trigger some requests for clarification.

 

That's cruel, you could have least done it by Ridings.

 

So many to choose from, methinks the Wensleydale route.

 

Adrian

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Lots to chose from .....the York-Beverley is a worthy contender, Wetherby to Leeds would be a great commuter route now.

 

In the end, though, it’s the Leeds Northern for me as well!

 

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9 hours ago, Market65 said:

For myself it’s back to the long gone Beverley to Market Weighton, Pocklington, Stamford Bridge and York line. I can only give a few details here, I’ve books about the line and various websites. 
Briefly, in the Beeching Report it was stated there were, on average, 57 passengers per two car DMU. Level crossings were a serious issue, with 19 of them. It had been proposed, under the Centralised Traffic Control scheme, of the late 1950’s to modernise the line. It was to have been made single track, with passing loops at Market Weighton and Pocklington, with the level crossings being converted to AHB operations. It was estimated that the line would have broken even by the late 1960’s. Of course, Beeching abandoned all of that.

So, a main cross country line was closed down on 29th November, 1965, all to save some £81,000 per annum. Everyone has to go round via Selby and Church Fenton, at a greater journey time too. I recall my Grandmother asking how people from Market Weighton were supposed to go to York by train via Selby. She never received an answer from BR.

 

Rob.


One of the overlooked tragedies of Beeching was that the majority of bus services that replaced rail closures were far slower, and as a result lost custom and were themselves withdrawn in less than two years leaving rural communities totally isolated.

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12 hours ago, great northern said:

The Elizabethan now appears, but 60012 is running a little late. It is timed to come through just before the Grimsby leaves.

 

 

365218508_212.JPG.865e3e02166fae1158349f5d9df26fc2.JPG

A splendid A4 Gilbert,

 

However, what has gone wrong with the 'Lizzie's' formation? Where's the leading BG? And, the catering cars are the wrong way round. New couplings? 

 

Also, when these splendid cars were in maroon in 1958, they carried the BR roundel.  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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27 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

A splendid A4 Gilbert,

 

However, what has gone wrong with the 'Lizzie's' formation? Where's the leading BG? And, the catering cars are the wrong way round. New couplings? 

 

Also, when these splendid cars were in maroon in 1958, they carried the BR roundel.  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I think I mentioned when we chatted the other day that the Elizabethan rake needs attention, and that the bogies will be going off to be rebuilt. The BG is in fact already without bogies, hence its absence. However, up it came on the sequence, so I just posed it for photography, not bothering to get things in the correct order. Laziness rules as always. The roundels? Another example of my not giving a detailed enough specification to the builder. I'm afraid their lack just isn't irritating enough to me to cause me to do anything about it.

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6 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi All

 

I am afraid my knowledge of Yorkshire's railways is quite limited so today I will not be nominating a line. 

 

My knowledge is likely even less but I have always liked the Scarborough-Whitby-north coastal line (Robin Hood's Bay?) so it gets my vote.  Gives me an excuse to show a picture....

 

Isn't Hornby wonderful?

 

Whitby_LNER_L1_2abcde_r1820_crop.jpg.2c86250ead17e8344a52aabe2ce2300e.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by robmcg
typo
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The climb from Robin Hoods Bay to Ravenscar like most of the Whitby to Scarborough line, has fantastic views and must have taxed the crews of the engines going up to the tunnel at the summit. 

Baz

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From a personal point of view, I would enjoy a trip along the coast line from Scarborough to Whitby.  However, participation in the poll sometimes makes me undertake some basic research and the Leeds Northern line does seem to have a strong case.  I suppose what we should do is to examine details of passenger bookings and  goods traffic - would railwaymen such as Fiennes and Hardy have supported closure or would they have considered traffic adequate to support a rationalised basic railway?  

But for today, the Leeds Northern has my vote. 

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