Sleights railway station

Sleights railway station is in the village of Sleights in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Esk Valley Line and is operated by Northern Trains who provide all of the station's passenger services. The station serves the village of Sleights, located behind the station, and the hamlet of Briggswath on the opposite side of the valley across the River Esk.

Sleights
LocationSleights, Scarborough
England
Coordinates54.461100°N 0.662600°W / 54.461100; -0.662600
Grid referenceNZ867081
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeSLH
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companyWhitby and Pickering Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
15 May 1835 (1835-05-15)Station opened
Passengers
2015/16 4,122
2016/17 4,188
2017/18 4,254
2018/19 4,182
2019/20 4,732
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Sleights station was on the initial 6.5-mile (10.5 km) section of the Whitby and Pickering Railway between Whitby and Grosmont.[1] Originally just a simple halt, it opened to horse-drawn traffic on 15 May 1835,[2] with a full public service operating from June 1835.[1] The station platforms and the main building, a mock-Tudor design by George Townsend Andrews, were constructed eleven years later and opened in 1846.[3] It used to have two platforms for up and down line working,[4] but in common with the other stations between Grosmont and Whitby, this was reduced to single track working in 1984 when the second track was lifted and Sleights signal box closed.[5] Trains now stop at the former Up line platform[6] where the main station buildings, including the station master's house, are now a grade II listed private residence.[7][8] The former down platform used to have a wooden waiting shed and store; this building was recovered by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and re-erected on the extended down platform at Grosmont.[9] Behind the down platform was a small goods yard with a single siding. The Up line platform is currently managed and maintained by Northern and Esk Valley Railway, whilst the down platform and derelict signal box are the responsibility of Network Rail.

At one end of the platform, a footpath carries passengers over the River Esk to Briggswath on a small box girder bridge, while at the other the A169 towers over the railway and river on a bridge opened on 26 January 1937.[10] The site of the modern day footpath used to be a level crossing carrying the main Whitby-Pickering road to a stone bridge over the Esk,[11] before this was washed away during floods in 1930.[12] Next to the crossing a 19th-century brick built signal box remains, now unused and boarded up.

Services
Route 5:
Esk Valley Line
 Middlesbrough
 James Cook
 Marton
 Gypsy Lane
 Nunthorpe
 Great Ayton
 Battersby
 Kildale
 Commondale
 Castleton Moor
 Danby
 Lealholm
 Glaisdale
 Egton
 Grosmont
Sleights
 Ruswarp
 Whitby

Following the September 2020 timetable change, Sleights is currently served by five trains per day (four on Sunday) towards Whitby, and four trains per day towards Nunthorpe and Middlesbrough.[13]

Heritage services operated by the North York Moors Railway also serve the Esk Valley Line between Whitby and Grosmont; however, these do not call at Ruswarp or Sleights.[14]

References
  1. Bairstow 2008, p. 13.
  2. Bairstow 2008, p. 111.
  3. Ellis, Norman (1995). North Yorkshire railway stations. Ochiltree: Stenlake. p. 29. ISBN 1-872074-63-4.
  4. Chapman, Stephen (2008). York to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. p. 89. ISBN 9781871233193.
  5. Bairstow 2008, p. 90.
  6. Body, Geoffrey (1989). Railways of the Eastern Region. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. p. 122. ISBN 1-85260-072-1.
  7. Historic England. "2 Coach Road  (Grade II) (1316164)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. Historic England. "Sleights Station (500526)". PastScape. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  9. Hunt, John (2004). The North Yorkshire moors railway : a further trip along the former Whitby & Pickering Railway and through to Malton / vol. 2. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 37. ISBN 1-85895-236-0.
  10. Whitworth, Alan (1998). Esk Valley Railway : a travellers' guide ; a description of the history and topography of the line between Whitby and Middlesbrough. Barnsley: Wharncliffe. p. 33. ISBN 1-871647-49-5.
  11. Hoole, Ken (1983). Railways of the North York Moors : a pictorial history. Clapham: Dalesman Books. p. 36. ISBN 0-85206-731-3.
  12. "River Esk fact file" (PDF). environmentdata.org. Environment Agency. p. 4. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  13. "Train times: Middlesbrough to Whitby (Esk Valley Railway)" (PDF). Northern Trains. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  14. Bairstow 2008, p. 106.

Sources
  • Bairstow, Martin (2008). Railways Around Whitby Volume One. Farsley: Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-34-1.
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains
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