Scarborough railway station

History

Scarborough station opened on Monday 7 July 1845, following the completion of the line from York. The first train, consisting of 35 coaches was hauled by two locomotives named 'Hudson' and 'Lion' arriving in Scarborough at 1:35 p.m., having stopped at Castle Howard, Malton and Ganton, taking just over three hours. All the shops closed, and an estimated ten to fifteen thousand spectators saw the arrival of the first train.

The original station building was designed by G.T. Andrews. It had a wrought iron and glazed roof, 348 feet long by 88 feet wide in two spans, and 30 feet from the rails. On the opening day, the station was complete, except for the overall roof and the goods shed in the station yard had not been built.

The main station building included: a large central booking office, superintendent room, 1st class, 2nd class and Ladies waiting rooms, toilets, porters room, storeroom and refreshment room. Above the refreshment room was originally the station masters house, but later became the station hotel with ten bedrooms.

At first there were two platforms connected at the north end, with four tacks in-between them, each track having a pair of turntables, one at each end of the platforms. Gradually as traffic increased modifications were made to the station layout.

To accommodate excursion traffic two new platforms were added in 1883, now known as platforms 1 & 2. Separate waiting rooms were provided plus more facilities. The station clock was added in about 1884, and was built by Potts of Leeds costing £110 (equivalent to £9,992 in 2015).

During the 1890s until 1903, goods traffic was moved from the station yard to Gallows Close, so that more platforms could be provided. The original goods shed, which was next to the station building became platforms 6 to 9. Trains for the Forge Valley line often used these four platforms.

Platform 1A was cut out of platform 1 for easier access to the Whitby line.

Until 1965, the station also served a line from Whitby and until 1950 from Pickering. The station was previously named Scarborough Central to distinguish it from the now closed Scarborough Londesborough Road on the York to Scarborough Line.

By the early 1980s, regular use of platforms 6-9 had declined and following a simplification of the track layout in 1985, they were taken out of use and demolished. The land they occupied is now used for car & coach parking, though the overall roofs remain.

The current York to Blackpool service used to continue to Scarborough alongside other TransPennine Express services. This was operated by Arriva Trains Northern until Northern Rail took over the franchise in 2004. This service was usually worked by Metro liveried Class 158 Diesel Multiple Units and occasionally a Class 155 DMU. There was also a local service from York to Scarborough, usually worked by a Pacer or a Class 156.

Facilities

Scarborough station has a Travel Centre, ticket office, touch-screen ticket machines and the Pumpkin Cafe. The main building has a small waiting room.

Platforms 3–5 are partly covered, as is platform 1, which features the longest railway bench in the world.

Outside the station is a taxi rank and several bus shelters/stops where local and longer-distance bus services depart and arrive. These include Arriva North East route 93 to Whitby and Middlesbrough via the A171; Yorkshire Coastliner services to West Yorkshire via the A64; and East Yorkshire Motor Services route 128 (to Pickering/Helmsley via the A170) and routes 120/121 (south along the A165 to Filey/Bridlington and further south).

Benches are provided throughout the station, which is staffed at all times. The station also has two payphones, a vending machine and luggage trolleys, as well as toilets and cycle racks. Step-free access is available to all platforms.

Services

On Monday to Saturday there is generally an hourly First TransPennine Express service to York, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street, with a two-hourly service to York and beyond on Sunday.

Northern operate a daily two-hourly service to Filey, Bridlington, Hull and Sheffield via the Yorkshire Coast Line, with extra trains in peak hours.

On summer Saturdays, East Midlands Trains operate a service from London St Pancras via Doncaster.

In summer, West Coast Railway Company operate a daily steam locomotive hauled service from York. Scarborough is a popular destination for charter services as it has an operational turntable.

Future of the station

Three different proposals were put forward at the November 2009 Town Team meeting by SNAP Architects (Hull) with Local Transport Projects (Beverley) on the development of the Scarborough station area. The proposals all focused on different aspects (such as community/green/transport) of development. All three proposed idea of improving the station frontage and opening up an entrance to the south of the station.

Service improvements

The new TPE and Northern franchises due to start in April 2016 will see improvements to service frequencies and rolling stock on both lines - the York route will have two departures per hour instead of the current one (both operators will offer an hourly service as far as York), whilst the Hull line will have an hourly timetable implemented seven days per week. Trains to Liverpool will also be diverted west of Stalybridge to travel via Manchester Victoria and Newton-le-Willows (reverting to the route they used prior to May 1989).

Accident

On 10 August 1943, Scarborough station was the scene of an accident between two trains at platform 5. The late-running 09:05 express from Hull was wrongly routed by the signalman, and hit the 11:18 stopping train, which was waiting to depart. Four passengers in the first coach of the stopping train – all soldiers – were killed, eight received serious injuries, and a further 22 suffered minor injuries. Nobody was injured on the express train.