Scarborough railway station

Scarborough
The entrance to the station
Location
Place	Scarborough
Local authority	Scarborough
Coordinates	54°16′47″N 0°24′20″W / 54.279800°N 0.405500°W / 54.279800; -0.405500Coordinates: 54°16′47″N 0°24′20″W / 54.279800°N 0.405500°W / 54.279800; -0.405500
Grid reference	TA039883
Operations
Station code	SCA
Managed by	TransPennine Express
Number of platforms	5
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	0.667 million
2004/05	0.748 million
2005/06	0.752 million
2006/07	0.766 million
2007/08	0.773 million
2008/09	0.803 million
2009/10	0.829 million
2010/11	0.857 million
2011/12	0.906 million
2012/13	1.032 million
2013/14	0.910 million
2014/15	0.927 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1845 (1845)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Scarborough from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Scarborough railway station, formerly Scarborough Central, is an English station serving the seaside town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It lies 42 miles (68 km) east of York and is one of the eastern termini on the North TransPennine route operated by TransPennine Express. The station is also at the northern end of the Yorkshire Coast Line, and has the longest station seat in the world at 152 yards (139 m) in length.^[1]

From 1907 until 2010, the station approaches were controlled from a 120-lever signal box named Falsgrave (at the outer end of platform 1 and close to the former excursion station at Londesborough Road). In its final years, Falsgrave box controlled a mixture of colour-light and semaphore signals, including a gantry carrying 11 semaphores. The signal box and gantry were dismantled and removed in October 2010. The new signalling is a relay-based interlocking with two- and three-aspect LED signals controlled from an extension to the existing panel at nearby Seamer.^[2][3] Simplification of the track layout and major renewals took place at the same time.

History

Scarborough station opened on Monday 7 July 1845, following the completion of the line from York. The first train, consisting of 35 coaches was hauled by two locomotives named 'Hudson' and 'Lion' arriving in Scarborough at 1:35 p.m., having stopped at Castle Howard, Malton and Ganton, taking just over three hours. All the shops closed, and an estimated ten to fifteen thousand spectators saw the arrival of the first train.

The original station building was designed by G.T. Andrews. It had a wrought iron and glazed roof, 348 feet long by 88 feet wide in two spans, and 30 feet from the rails. On the opening day, the station was complete, except for the overall roof and the goods shed in the station yard had not been built.

The main station building included: a large central booking office, superintendent room, 1st class, 2nd class and Ladies waiting rooms, toilets, porters room, storeroom and refreshment room. Above the refreshment room was originally the station masters house, but later became the station hotel with ten bedrooms.

At first there were two platforms connected at the north end, with four tacks in-between them, each track having a pair of turntables, one at each end of the platforms. Gradually as traffic increased modifications were made to the station layout.

To accommodate excursion traffic two new platforms were added in 1883, now known as platforms 1 & 2. Separate waiting rooms were provided plus more facilities. The station clock was added in about 1884, and was built by Potts of Leeds costing £110.

During the 1890s until 1903, goods traffic was moved from the station yard to Gallows Close, so that more platforms could be provided. The original goods shed, which was next to the station building became platforms 6 to 9. Trains for the Forge Valley line often used these four platforms.

Platform 1A was cut out of platform 1 for easier access to the Whitby line.

Until 1965, the station also served a line from Whitby and until 1950 from Pickering. The station was previously named Scarborough Central to distinguish it from the now closed Scarborough Londesborough Road on the York to Scarborough Line.

By the early 1980s, regular use of platforms 6-9 had declined and following a simplification of the track layout in 1985, they were taken out of use and demolished. The land they occupied is now used for car & coach parking, though the overall roofs remain.

The current York to Blackpool service used to continue to Scarborough alongside other TransPennine Express services. This was operated by Arriva Trains Northern until Northern Rail took over the franchise in 2004. This service was usually worked by Metro liveried Class 158 Diesel Multiple Units and occasionally a Class 155 DMU. There was also a local service from York to Scarborough, usually worked by a Pacer or a Class 156.

Facilities

The long seat on Platform 1

Scarborough station has a Travel Centre, ticket office, touch-screen ticket machines and the Pumpkin Cafe. The main building has a small waiting room.

Platforms 3–5 are partly covered, as is platform 1, which features the longest railway bench in the world.^[1]

Outside the station is a taxi rank and several bus shelters/stops where local and longer-distance bus services depart and arrive. These include Arriva Yorkshire route 93 to Whitby and Middlesbrough via the A171; Yorkshire Coastliner services to West Yorkshire via the A64; and East Yorkshire Motor Services route 128 (to Pickering/Helmsley via the A170) and routes 120/121 (south along the A165 to Filey/Bridlington and further south).

Benches are provided throughout the station, which is staffed at all times. The station also has two payphones, a vending machine and luggage trolleys, as well as toilets and cycle racks.

Services

Two First TransPennine Express Class 185s and a Midland Mainline Class 222 stand at Platforms 3–5

North-eastbound view from Platform 1

Former signal gantry in July 1986

On Monday to Saturday there is generally an hourly First TransPennine Express service to York, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street, with a two-hourly service to York and beyond on Sunday.^[4]

Northern operate a daily two-hourly service to Filey, Bridlington, Hull and Sheffield via the Yorkshire Coast Line, with extra trains in peak hours.^[5]

On summer Saturdays, East Midlands Trains operate a service from London St Pancras via Doncaster.

In summer, West Coast Railway Company operate a daily steam locomotive hauled service from York.^[6] Scarborough is a popular destination for charter services as it has an operational turntable.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Seamer		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Terminus
		Northern Yorkshire Coast Line
York		East Midlands Trains London St Pancras-Scarborough Summer Saturdays only
Historical railways
Scarborough Londesborough Road		Y&NMR York to Scarborough Line		Terminus
Disused railways
Terminus		Scarborough & Whitby Railway		Scalby

Future of the station

Three different proposals were put forward at the November 2009 Town Team meeting by SNAP Architects (Hull) with Local Transport Projects (Beverley) on the development of the Scarborough station area. The proposals all focused on different aspects (such as community/green/transport) of development. All three proposed idea of improving the station frontage and opening up an entrance to the south of the station.

Service improvements

The new TPE and Northern franchises due to start in April 2016 will see improvements to service frequencies and rolling stock on both lines - the York route will have two departures per hour instead of the current one (both operators will offer an hourly service as far as York), whilst the Hull line will have an hourly timetable implemented seven days per week.^[7][8] Trains to Liverpool will also be diverted west of Stalybridge to travel via Manchester Victoria and Newton-le-Willows (reverting to the route they used prior to May 1989).

Accident

On 10 August 1943, Scarborough station was the scene of an accident between two trains at platform 5. The late-running 09:05 express from Hull was wrongly routed by the signalman, and hit the 11:18 stopping train, which was waiting to depart. Four passengers in the first coach of the stopping train – all soldiers – were killed, eight received serious injuries, and a further 22 suffered minor injuries. Nobody was injured on the express train.^[9]

Local connections

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scarborough railway station.

• Historic England. "Details from image database (447308)". Images of England. 
• The Flying Scotsman arriving in Scarborough – Webshots.com
• Scarborough's Urban Renaissance – Scarborough Station Re-development
• Video footage of Scarborough railway station