Starbeck railway station

The station dates from 1 September 1848 and was the first to serve Harrogate, although intending passengers initially had to make the two and a half mile connection from the town centre on foot or by horse bus as the Leeds & Thirsk company had elected to take an easily graded route to the east rather than cross the Crimple Valley and serve the town itself. The line on to Ripon and Thirsk was opened the following July, with a further line to Knaresborough and York (courtesy of the East & West Yorkshire Junction Railway) being completed on 1 October 1851. However it was not until both concerns had been absorbed by the North Eastern Railway some years later that the issue of a link into the centre of Harrogate was addressed, with a route via Dragon Junction to a new central station (and on via Crimple Valley Viaduct to Pannal Junction) being commissioned on 1 August 1862.[1] This new loop soon became the preferred route for most through traffic between Leeds and Teesside, leaving Starbeck to be served primarily by York trains although some freight and excursion traffic continued to use the original L&T line for many years thereafter.

Services on the old line to Pannal ended in October 1951,[2] whilst the Leeds Northern main line to Ripon & Northallerton was closed to passengers in March 1967 and completely two years later.

The station at one time had canopies and substantial buildings, but these have been demolished. The signal box remains in use to supervise a busy level crossing.

The station is unstaffed, but has ticket machines available. Shelters, timetable information boards and digital information screens are located on each platform - these are linked by a subway with ramps, so both have step-free access.[3] Running information is also offered by means of automatic P.A announcements.

During Monday to Saturday off-peak, there is a half-hourly service westbound to Leeds and a half-hourly service eastbound to Knaresborough with one train per hour onwards to York.[4]

During evenings and on Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

There are proposals to create another station between Starbeck and Harrogate at Bilton.[5]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Harrogate		Northern Trains Harrogate Line		Knaresborough

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

Media related to Starbeck railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times and station information for Starbeck railway station from National Rail