Knaresborough railway station

Knaresborough railway station is a Grade II listed[1] station serving the town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Harrogate Line 16.75 miles (27 km) west of York and is operated by Northern Trains, who provide all passenger train services.

Knaresborough
National Rail
The station in 2014 looking towards the tunnel
General information
LocationKnaresborough, North Yorkshire
England
Coordinates54.0090°N 1.4703°W / 54.0090; -1.4703
Grid referenceSE348571
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeKNA
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyEast and West Yorkshire Junction Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
30 October 1848Temporary station opened at Hay Park Lane, Knaresborough
21 July 1851Permanent Knaresborough station opened
Passengers
2017/18Increase 0.386 million
2018/19Increase 0.411 million
2019/20Increase 0.439 million
2020/21Decrease 0.117 million
2021/22Increase 0.387 million
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureKnaresborough Station
Designated12 March 1986
Reference no.1277673[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Location

The station is located at the north-eastern end of the Knaresborough Viaduct off Station Road to the north-west side of Knaresborough town centre. The station is within walking distance of the town centre and the western side of Knaresborough.

History

British Rail Class 141 arriving at the station in 1992

The East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway (E&WJR) was opened from York (Poppleton Junction) to a temporary terminus known as Hay Park Lane, Knaresborough on 30 October 1848. The E&WYJR was absorbed by the York and North Midland Railway on 1 July 1851. Three weeks later, with the completion of the stone viaduct crossing the River Nidd at Knaresborough on 21 July 1851, the temporary station was closed and a new Knaresborough station opened on the current site just beyond the stone viaduct.[2][3]

View south-west with distinctive signal box

In 1865 the North Eastern Railway replaced the 1851 station with a new one designed by Thomas Prosser.[4] The station was rebuilt c.1890.[5] The 1851 water tower is still extant.[6]

Beyond the platforms eastbound is a tunnel which separated the station from the goods yard (now a bus depot) and the line's major junction. The Knaresborough to Boroughbridge branch (1875–1950 for passengers,[7] 1964 for goods) diverged from the main line to York opposite the goods yard. This line continued north-east until it met the East Coast Main Line between York and Northallerton at Pilmoor.[8] The tunnel is still extant with both north and south portals are now listed structures.[9][10]

The station signal box (built 1890) is somewhat unusual in that it was built onto the end of an adjoining row of terraced houses on Kirkgate.[5][11] It supervises the single line section eastwards to Cattal, an adjacent level crossing and a crossover that is used to reverse those trains from Leeds that terminate here.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but has a single ticket machine available on platform 1. The station buildings on the eastbound platform are in private commercial use – one of these is a cafe (sited in the old booking office) that is open to the public. Both platforms have shelters and are linked by subway and the level crossing.[12] Step-free access is via separate entrances to each platform. A long-line P.A. system and passenger information screens are in place to provide train running details.

Future

On 5 March 2015, the Harrogate Line, amongst others in the area including the Leeds-Bradford Interchange-Halifax Line, the Selby-Hull Line and the Northallerton-Middlesbrough Line, were named top priority for electrification; the estimated cost for the Harrogate Line was £93 million, with a projected cost-benefit ratio of 1/1.80. No impementation date has been set however.[13]

Money has been set aside for the doubling of the single line sections between Knaresborough and York. This will allow capacity improvements along the whole line. The projected completion date for this work is 2018.[14]

Services

During Monday to Saturday off-peak, there is a half-hourly service to Leeds (westbound) and an hourly service to York (eastbound).[15] Additional services run during weekday peak periods.

During evenings there is an hourly service in each direction, whilst on Sundays (from mid-morning) there are two trains per hour to Leeds and one to York.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Northern Trains
Terminus

References

  1. Historic England (12 March 1986). "Knaresborough Station (1277673)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 125. CN 8983.
  3. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. pp. 116, 136. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  4. Fawcett, Bill (2001), A History of North Eastern railway Architecture, vol. 1: The Pioneers, North Eastern Railway Association, p. 138, ISBN 1873513348
  5. Historic England (12 March 1986). "Signal Box at Knaresborough Station (1248970)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  6. Historic England (29 July 1999). "Water Tower at Knaresborough Station (1387760)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  7. Daniels, Gerald David; Dench, Leslie Alan (May 1973) [1964]. Passengers No More (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 67. ISBN 0-7110-0438-2. OCLC 2554248. 1513 CEC 573.
  8. Wignall, C.J. (1983), Complete British Railways Maps and Gazetteer from 1830–1981 (First ed.), Oxford Publishing Company, Poole, p. 38, ISBN 0-86093-162-5
  9. Historic England (12 December 1985). "South Portal of Railway Tunnel (1315608)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  10. Historic England (12 December 1985). "North Portal to Railway Tunnel (1149912)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  11. "Knaresborough Signal Box". www.signalbox.org. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  12. Knaresborough station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 30 November 2016
  13. "Harrogate reacts to rail electrification news". Halifax Courier. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  14. Windham, Dan (27 October 2015). "North Yorkshire take first step for Harrogate". Harrogate Advertiser. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  15. Table 35 National Rail timetable, December 2019
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