Ulleskelf railway station

The station opened on 29 May 1839 on the York and North Midland Railway near where it crossed the River Wharfe.[1] It appears to have been redesigned and slightly relocated following the construction of the bridge carrying New Road (the B1223) over the tracks: the first station building was either adjacent and at right angles to the Ulleskelf Arms public house, or directly across the track from the pub on West End Road.[2] Neither of these buildings survives. A 1888 survey shows the station in its current position on the south side of the new road bridge,[3] with a new access road from the east end of the bridge across Hall Garth to the junction of Main Street and a newly-extended Church Fenton Lane, alongside a goods yard built on the site which was a plant nursery on the 1849 map. Further evidence of this change in layout is the terrace called Station Cottages on Main Street at the junction of Church Fenton Lane, now some 200m north of, and out of sight of, the modern station. The station avoided the Beeching Axe in the mid 1960s due to the poor road network in the area (there being no easily accessible road bridge over the river for York-bound commuters).[4] Today the station is unstaffed with all trains operated by Northern. Though there are four tracks, the island platform only serves the eastern pair.

• On 24 November 1906, a passenger train overran signals and ran into the rear of a freight train.[5]
• On 8 December 1981, a York to Liverpool express derailed 1,600 feet (500 m) north of the station. Whilst the locomotive stayed upright, all the carriages de-railed and carriages six and seven rolled down a steep bank. This resulted in 24 people requiring hospitalisation with nine of those being serious. One man later died of his injuries. The cause of the derailment was found to be a crack in one of the rails of the Up Normanton line.[6]

Eighteen trains call at Ulleskelf on weekdays and Saturdays. Nine to York northbound and three to Sheffield, three to Leeds (with one of those continuing to Blackpool North) and three to Hull (with one of those continuing to Bridlington) southbound.

Eleven trains call here on Sundays: five trains to York, five to Hull and one to Selby. In addition, one rail replacement bus service runs between York and Moorthorpe in each direction.

In December 1997, a wheelchair accessible footbridge opened.

In May 2021 as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, it was confirmed electrification of the line between York and Church Fenton would happen along with other upgrades.[7] Further confirmation of the upgrade came from the publishing in November 2021 of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP)[8][9] which includes full electrification between York through Church Fenton to Manchester.

As of April 2023, electrified rail lines run through Ulleskelf.

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

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Church Fenton		Northern Dearne Valley Line		York
		Northern Hull-York Line
		Northern York & Selby Lines
	Historical railways
Church Fenton Line and station open		North Eastern Railway		Bolton Percy Line open, station closed