Place Battersby Station code BTT DfT category F2 Number of platforms 1 | Grid reference NZ588072 Managed by Northern 2011/12 1,504 | |
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Address Middlesbrough TS9 6LT, United Kingdom Similar Castleton Moor railway st, Commondale railway station, Kildale railway station, Gypsy Lane railway st, Nunthorpe railway station | ||
Battersby railway station serves the village of Battersby in North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Esk Valley Line 11 miles (18 km) south of Middlesbrough and is operated by Northern which provides all of the station's passenger services.
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History
Battersby is unusual on the British railway network, due to the layout of the tracks. Formerly the place where the branch from Middlesbrough joined the through route from Whitby to Picton (on the Stockton to Northallerton portion of the former Leeds Northern Railway), the closure of the direct line west of Battersby in 1954 means that all services have to reverse in the station. Until the rationalisation of the signalling in the late 1980s it was common for two trains to do so at the same time, in order to pass each other on the single track Esk Valley line. Trains can still pass each other in the one remaining platform, using the "first in, last out" principle, as the platform line is signalled to permit two trains to occupy it at once.
In its early years Battersby was known as Ingleby junction, and opened on the Picton to Grosmont line in 1858 when the Ingleby Mining company's private line first linked to the North Yorkshire & Cleveland Railway. The station was renamed to Battersby Junction in 1878 to avoid confusion with Ingleby station, on the Picton Branch, which ran from Battersby to the main line at Picton. The station was simplified to "Battersby" in 1893 (The NER had a dislike of "Junction" suffixes and removed most of them). Despite being located along single track routes, Battersby became a major hub with extensive marshalling sidings and three-road engine shed with turntable. Two terraces with 30 cottages along with two houses were built and still stand today.
Battersby used to have three platforms - two lengthy up and down line platforms connected by a central footbridge, along with a shorter bay platform with a run-round loop. Water towers were located at both ends of the station. Only the one at the current "junction end" remains today. The signal box also located here has also long since vanished, although traces of the third platform are still visible and a run-round loop is still available for loco-hauled trains.
Services
Four trains daily go in each direction from Battersby, to Middlesbrough northbound and Whitby eastbound. There is a Sunday service (also of four trains each way) in operation from late March to the beginning of November (from the May 2013 timetable change).