Ground Capacity 3,500 (300 Seated) Founded 1935 | Manager Vacant | |
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Nickname(s) The Rail, The Locomotives League Northern Premier League Division One North | ||
Harrogate Railway Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. The club was founded in 1935. It currently plays in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division.
Contents
History
The club was founded in 1935 when workers from Starbeck LNER locomotive shed formed an adult team to play in the Harrogate & District League. In 1946 the side consisted entirely of railway men and reached the British Railways National Cup Final.
This success prompted the club to go in search of a ground of their own, but they stayed at Station View when the LNER said that they would lend the club the £1,500 necessary to purchase the site, provided that 300 rail workers would agree to having 1d a week stopped from their wages to finance the repayments. More than sufficient volunteers signed up and they did not have long to wait for their faith to be repaid on the pitch.
In 1949 both of the clubs sides won their respective league championships plus a full set of local cups. The first team won all 24 league matches with a goal tally of 150 goals to 29 against.
In the 2002–03 season, they won eight games and reached the Second Round of the FA Cup. Eventually a capacity crowd saw Harrogate Railway lose to Bristol City 3–1. This run was the furthest the club has gone in the FA Cup to date.
In recent years the club has reached its highest ever league position, under the management of Martin Haresign who took over in October 2003; the club were at the bottom of the NCEL Premier Division at the time. He steadied the ship at the club and led Railway to a promotion in 2005–06, into the Northern Premier League First Division. In 2007, Harrogate played in the inaugural season of the Northern Premier League Division One North.
This is the highest the club has ever reached in the league pyramid system. In early 2007, Haresign resigned to focus on his business. Vince Brockie, who had served as assistant manager during Haresign's reign, took over as manager.
In 2007–08 Railway once again reached the second round proper of the FA Cup after beating Harrogate rivals Harrogate Town 2–1 in the fourth preliminary round followed by a 2–0 win over Droylsden. Railway lost 3–2 to Mansfield Town in the second round, which was televised live on Match of the Day.
The 2012-13 season started with the new management team Billy Miller and his assistant Lee Ashforth in charge. In their first season Miller and Ashforth managed Railway to an 18th-place finish with 41 points, well clear of the relegation zone. 2013-14 saw Railway finish 13th with 48 points after forging a strong relationship with Harrogate Town and Simon Weaver that allowed players to be dual registered between the clubs.
2014-15 saw Railway achieve a record high league finish of eighth under Billy Miller with Nathan Cartman's 31 goals seeing him crowned golden boot winner for being the league's top scorer. The Summer of 2015 saw a number of first team players, including Cartman, depart Station View and Miller exiting for NCEL Premier Division side Tadcaster Albion and being replaced in the dugout by his assistant Lee Ashforth for the 2015-16 season.
Following a string of poor results early in the 2016-17 season, Ashforth resigned as manager on September 5.
Honours
Northern Counties East League Premier Division
Northern Counties East League Division One
Northern Counties East League Division Two North
Yorkshire League Division Two
West Yorkshire Football League Division Two