Station code THI DfT category E Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference SE409816 2011/12 0.189 million | |
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Similar Knaresborough railway station, Starbeck railway station, Harrogate railway station, Northallerton railway station, Workhouse Museum | ||
Trains at thirsk railway station 20 dec 2016
Thirsk railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom, serving the town of Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It is 210 miles 56 chains (339.1 km) down-line from London King's Cross and is situated between York to the south and Northallerton to the north. Its three-letter station code is THI.
Contents
The station is about 1.5 miles (2 km) outside of Thirsk town centre and is actually on the edge of the village of Carlton Miniott.
There are four tracks, but only the outer two have platforms. From satellite imagery it can look as if there are platforms on the inner two tracks, but examination on the ground shows this not to be true; the platform faces serving the innermost pair of tracks were removed in the 1970s in preparation for higher-speed main line running using InterCity 125 trains. The station is operated by First TransPennine Express. Other train services are provided by the open-access operator Grand Central Railway.
History
The railway line between York and Darlington was built by the Great North of England Railway, most of which was authorised in 1837; the line was formally opened on 30 March 1841. The station at Thirsk, which opened to the public on 31 March 1841, was originally named Newcastle Junction.
In 1933 Britain's first route-setting power signal box using a switch panel rather than a lever frame opened at Thirsk, to the specification of the LNER's signalling engineers A.F. Bound and A. E. Tattersall, forming the template for many such future installations on the nation's railway network. Larger schemes to a similar design followed at other locations on the former North Eastern Railway network, such as Hull Paragon (1938), Northallerton (1939) and York (1951 - the resignalling project was interrupted by the Second World War and not completed until after nationalisation). Thirsk signal box itself, after various alterations over the course of its life, eventually closed around 1989 under the York IECC signalling scheme.
Facilities
The station has a staffed ticket office (on the southbound platform), which is open through the week (06:45-19:30 Mondays to Saturdays, 08:45-17:30 Sundays) and there is also self-service ticket machine available (this can be used for collecting pre-paid tickets as well as for purchasing when the ticket office is closed). There is a waiting shelter on the northbound platform and customer help points and digital CIS displays on both sides. Step-free access to both platforms is via a barrow crossing and only possible when the station is staffed.
Services
There is generally an hourly service northbound to Middlesbrough and southbound to York, Leeds, Huddersfield and beyond (usually Manchester Airport). Some northbound Newcastle TransPennine services also stop at Thirsk as well as Grand Central Railway services between London Kings Cross and Sunderland.
Sundays generally have two-hourly service towards Middlesbrough and York.