Northallerton railway station

Northallerton
Location
Place	Northallerton
Local authority	Hambleton
Coordinates	54.3327°N 1.4415°W / 54.3327; -1.4415
Grid reference	SE364931
Operations
Station code	NTR
Managed by	First TransPennine Express
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.381 million
2005/06	0.413 million
2006/07	0.453 million
2007/08	0.489 million
2008/09	0.582 million
2009/10	0.544 million
2010/11	0.557 million
History
Original company	Great North of England Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
31 March 1841	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Northallerton from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Northallerton railway station serves the town of Northallerton in North Yorkshire, England. The station lies on the East Coast Main Line 30 miles (48 km) north of York. It is currently managed by First TransPennine Express and also served by Grand Central and East Coast.

A long-term aim of the Wensleydale Railway is to run trains into the station from Redmire and eventually Garsdale on the Settle-Carlisle Railway.

The station is very popular with rail enthusiasts, as it is situated on one of the fastest parts of the East Coast Mainline. Trains pass at speeds up to 125 mph.

History

The station was opened by the Great North of England Railway on 30 March 1841. Eleven years later the Leeds Northern Railway completed its line from Leeds to Stockton through the town, although this did not initially connect with the main line. Instead trains called at nearby Northallerton Town station a short distance away, near the point where it passed beneath the line towards Darlington. By 1854 the GNoE and the LN had both become part of the North Eastern Railway which soon began running through trains on the LN route via Thirsk. These then rejoined the line towards Eaglescliffe by means of a new link from the main line at High Junction that was opened in 1856. The original LN route southwards towards Melmerby was then operated as a branch line until 1901, when the NER connected it to the main line via another new junction at the southern end of the station and started using it as the primary route from West Yorkshire to Teesside once more.

Meanwhile the Wensleydale branch line to Bedale, Leyburn and Hawes had been opened in stages between 1848 and 1878. It joined the main line immediately north of the station and its trains used a bay at the northern end of the northbound island platform. Passenger trains on the branch were withdrawn from 26 April 1954, although it remains open for occasional M.o.D trains to Redmire and heritage trains operated by the Wensleydale Railway. There is however currently no direct route to the branch from the station as its junction faces north and trains must access it by means of a reversing siding off the northbound main line. The defunct south to west curve will need to be reinstated and a new platform constructed before Wensleydale trains can run to and from the station once again (the link to and from Leeming Bar is currently made by bus).

Services were withdrawn on the line towards Ripon on 6 March 1967, after the route was earmarked for closure in the Beeching Report. The line north-eastwards towards Stockton had already lost its local passenger services by this time, but it was retained for freight traffic to and from Teesside and occasional longer distance passenger trains. It now carries a regular service to and from Middlesbrough.

Services

First TransPennine Express are the main train operator at the station. On Mondays to Saturdays there are generally two trains an hour southbound towards York and beyond (usually Manchester Airport), and northbound an hourly service to both Middlesbrough and Newcastle.

Sundays there is generally an hourly service towards York and a two-hourly service towards both Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

The station used to be served by very few direct East Coast services to London Kings Cross. However, East Coast undertook a significant revamp of their timetables in May 2011. As a result of this, there are now 10 daily weekday direct services to London Kings Cross and 12 direct services from London Kings Cross. Furthermore, there are now also 2 direct services from Northallerton to Edinburgh, one of which continues to Glasgow.

All Grand Central Railway services between London Kings Cross and Sunderland stop at Northallerton each day (5 services each way)

CrossCountry services to and from Newcastle and Scotland pass through Northallerton, but do not call there.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
York		East Coast East Coast Main Line		Darlington
Thirsk		First TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Darlington
				Yarm
		Grand Central London-Sunderland		Eaglescliffe
	Disused railways
Ainderby Line and station closed		North Eastern Railway York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway		Terminus
Terminus		North Eastern Railway Leeds-Northallerton Railway		Newby Wiske Line and station closed
Brompton Line open, station closed		North Eastern Railway Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line		Terminus
	Proposed Heritage railways
Ainderby Line and station closed		Wensleydale Railway		Terminus

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1