Closure

In 1962 the local Transport Users' Consultative Committee agreed to the closure of Londesborough station with an annual saving of little more than £1,200. But a Catch 22 situation arose because the station could not be closed until the manned level crossing had been modernised under the CTC scheme, which in February, 1962, was halted for what BR described at the time as "reassessment". With some work already done, materials were soon being loaded up and taken back to York, and closure began to loom more closely.

The axe fell on Kipling Cotes and Cherry Burton freight depots on 27th January, 1964, Londesborough on 4th May 1965, and on Earswick, Stamford Bridge and Fangfoss on 7th June, 1965.

Hopes that the line might yet be saved rose in 1964 when the NE Region produced a new singling scheme with 500 yard passing loops at Pocklington and Market Weighton. The abandonment of one line would earn £80,000 in the value of recovered materials but it soon transpired that the scheme was only to be implemented in the event of the Minister of Transport not agreeing to closure.

As freight traffic remained buoyant at Pocklington, BR studied several options for the retention of freight facilities there, including single lines from Beverley to Pocklington and Holme Moor on the Selby line, between Selby, Market Weighton and Pocklington, and between York, Market Weighton and Holme Moor. However, under the Beeching regime, local freight traffic became unfashionable and BR eventually managed to either divert or run down the traffic.

Closure notices for the line were ultimately posted, signaling the start of one of the bitterest and most intense anti-closure campaigns of the Beeching era. Petition followed petition and every local council between York and Hull objected to the closure. A public inquiry was called and the Transport Users' Consultative Committee ruled that closure would lead to serious social and economic hardship, advising the Minister accordingly.

Hopes rose again with a change of Government in 1964. New Transport Minister Barbara Castle pledged that the Beeching closures would be halted until a full investigation had been held. Having said that and despite the TUCC's recommendations, she promptly sanctioned the York-Beverley closure and the date was fixed for 8th October, 1965. The Selby-Driffield line was also approved for closure, on 4th June, 1965.

Local authorities and people, not least those who had voted for the new Labour Government, felt as though they had been kicked in the teeth and the campaign reached a new pitch. A deputation lobbied Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and local councils and chambers of commerce threatened sanctions against BR. There were many accusations against the credibility of BR's figures, indeed its whole accounting system. Some objectors claimed that the loss figures had been deliberately falsified by heaping on the cost of the aborted CTC scheme and others suggested that a typist at York headquarters had typed in a nought too many. But the minds and ears of BR and government officialdom remained shut and the closure could not be stopped.

With holiday trains already diverted via Scarborough or Hull, the Selby-Driffield line closed as planned before the start of the summer timetable, the occasion being marked by a number of enthusiasts' specials. As a result, summer Saturdays on the York line in 1965 were sombre days with only the normal York-Hull service left.

The York-Beverley won a reprieve until 27 November 1965 but only to give local bus operators time to make arrangements for their new services, a new East Yorkshire York-Hull express coach service being a condition of closure

Freight services also enjoyed a month's stay of execution but still ended a month before passenger services, on 1 November.

Saturday, 27th November, the last day of passenger services, saw heavy snow, as if to warn commuters of the disruption ahead with blocked roads and stranded buses. All loco-hauled services were returned to steam haulage for the day, with Dairycoates B1 4-6-0 No. 61306 doing the honours. The very last train was the 21.42 PM from York, a six-car DMU packed with locals and enthusiasts. The wreath-clad train pulled into Pocklington on time at 22.04 PM to a reception described by Mr. L. C. Sands, chairman of the East Riding Public Transport Development Council, which had fought long and hard to prevent such a scene, as one which looked more like the line was being opened rather than closed. Over 100 boys from Pocklington School paid their last respects with the ringing of a hand bell to signal the train's arrival, an old YNMR practice, while a message from NE Region general manager, Arthur Dean, was handed to the school's headmaster by the driver in return for a commemorative scroll. After several minutes' delay the DMU disappeared into the snowy darkness to cheers and cracking of detonators. Once it had gone an eerie silence fell over everyone as the cold realisation of what it all meant began to sink in.

First train on the line since closure came in January, 1966, when K1 2-6-0 No. 62001 arrived with a permanent way train to start lifting one track for reuse in the East Coast main line Up Slow line at Thirsk, since it was in much better condition than that which had been used to complete quadrupling of the ECML in 1959/60. Track lifting, which involved leaving long double track sections at Pocklington and Market Weighton after all, continued throughout the year while all sidings were cut up for scrap.

The Minister of Transport insisted that a single line remained to await the outcome of a study by the Central Planning Unit of the Department of Economic Affairs on Humberside which was assessing the likely effect of recent North Sea gas and oil discoveries on the area. So hopes, however faint, of the York-Beverley reopening were kept alive

Disused buildings soon became a target for vandals and BR began receiving complaints about the general dereliction that was setting in. In November, 1968, the York District Engineer was authorised to demolish the worst of the buildings, tidy up signal boxes, board up windows and take down timber waiting rooms at a cost of £600.

The remaining track continued to be well maintained as it saw use as a training ground for operators of track maintenance machines which were being widely introduced at the time. Each year a weed killer train traversed the whole route and spot re-sleepering continued to take place.

Hopes of retaining a 1¼-mile section from Bootham Junction to Earswick seemed to lie in a possible new Redimix concrete depot but Bootham Junction was due for expensive renewals in 1969. Even as recently as 1984 there was a chance that this section would be reinstated to serve a new terminal for the Rowntree-Mackintosh factory but this never happened.

Any slim hopes of a full reopening were finally dashed on 15th January, 1969, when the Eastern Railway Board approved recovery of all the remaining assets. Although the minister had not consented to destruction of the formation, i.e. trackbed, earthworks and bridges, lifting of remaining track and demolition of buildings could go ahead.

Contractors commenced work at the end of April 1970. BR Engineer's trains entered the branch at Bootham Junction at approximately 6.00 PM each weekday evening and changed over wagons with the contractor at Earswick. At the east end of the line, BR trains ran through from Beverley and the exchange took place at Market Weighton. BR received a net credit of £58,700 for recovery, £88,200 being the value of recovered track and £9,500 the cost of demolishing buildings and resurfacing level crossings.

The line's story continued with controversy in 1978 over the future of Stamford Bridge viaduct, listed as a historical monument. Faced with the cost of repairs and the fact that its presence inhibited development of the adjacent station site, as well as its danger to local children who often strayed on to it, the BR Property Board applied for permission to knock it down. A comical situation arose when the North Wolds Borough Council, responsible for the eastern half of the viaduct, approved BR's plans while the Selby District Council, responsible for the western half, turned them down.

In 1980 BR sold the viaduct to the East Yorkshire Borough Council (formerly North Wolds) for £1 and by late 1985 it looked likely to be repaired with help from the Manpower Services Commission.

On the other hand the fine station at Pocklington has become a prime example of what can be done with redundant railway buildings given cooperation and enterprise. With the station frontage restored to its original condition, it has been turned into a recreation hall for Pocklington School.

The goods depot at Pocklington has also been restored, ironically as a car showroom, while a roundabout and road now cover the once busy goods yard.

For a long time Market Weighton presented a far less tidy picture with all but the goods depot still standing in 1978. The pleasing station portico spent many years unceremoniously propped up by a piece of wood after being damaged by a road vehicle. The goods depot was demolished because of its condition but a wrangle over the sale of the station site to the then Pocklington Rural District Council prevented any immediate redevelopment. BR wanted £40,000 for the lot but nothing happened and by 1973 the price had gone up to £60,000 with the council claiming it had been "gazumped".

Even in 1978 there were still people who refused to let the railway die and on 28 January a Mr. J. Hart wrote to the Hull Daily Mail suggesting that a steam railway and footpath between Market Weighton and Beverley would be a viable proposition, especially since an engine shed and station still existed at Market Weighton. These buildings were, however, pretty derelict and were demolished the following year to make room for new housing, North Wolds Borough Council finally buying the site for no less than £373,020. In 1983 Humberside County Council took over the whole Market Weighton to Beverley section and turned it into a nature trail called the Hudson Way.

Holtby and Fangfoss stations were converted into dwellings, and Kipling Cotes station became the Grannie's Attic antique shop. This seems appropriate since following the withdrawal of full-time staff the buildings were used to store artifacts for the York Railway Museum, including a pair of old chauldron wagons and a Blyth and Tyne Railway loco cab.

At Warthill the station was converted into a dwelling, and the signal box made into a fine garage. It is not known when the large extension on the back of the building was built, but it does keep faithfully to the YNMR style. In 2009 the signal box was looking a little run down but a planning application has been made to turn it into single bedroomed house with a side extention said to be based on an old railway carriage. An artists impression was published in the Press on 6th May 2009. In June the council passed the plans and the box with planning authority was sold by tender on 11 September 2009 for £75000+. The rebuilding was completed in 2010, the best that can be said about it, is that the basic shape and form of the signal box has been retained and will at least give historians in the future an idea of what the building was like in its prime.

Mr Ken Collinson who was a signalman at the time of closure purchased one of the staff houses and some land for a garden. The Up line passenger shelter was on part of this land and he planned to turn the shelter into a summerhouse. British Railways foiled this plan by knocking the shelter down. They did however leave Ken with the substantial brick and concrete foundations, which still remain to this day.

New houses now cover the York-Market Weighton trackbed in several places while a pub, The Flag and Whistle, occupies the site of Earswick station. Nearby, a new road runs along the rail formation between what used to be Earswick station and Haxby Road level crossings, crossing the River Foss by the original rail bridge

However, at Cherry Burton, virtually all buildings, including the signal box and weigh house, were still intact in 1985.

There is little doubt that real hardship did follow closure, with total isolation of the small Kipling Cotes community and stunted development for several years at Stamford Bridge, Pocklington and Market Weighton. The replacement express bus service, like many others around the country, has all but ceased to exist, while the lack of competition has allowed bus fares between Pocklington and York to rise from 2/8d. (same as the train) in 1965 to £1.15 (£1 3s. 0d.) in 1985. Commuters from Pocklington could travel by train to York in just 20 minutes and to Hull in 40 minutes. Today the York journey takes 45 minutes while commuting to Hull is not really on by public transport.

But it is how the York-Beverley line's huge potential for economic operation was totally ignored for the sake of a small saving which must rank its closure as one of the great scandals of the Beeching era.

Although all stations on the line were fully staffed (except Kipling Cotes) at the time of closure, no serious attempts were made to cut staff costs or to attract new business. The Pay train system, in which stations are unstaffed and passengers buy their tickets on the train, and which BR introduced on the York-Harrogate line only the year after the Beverley line closed, would have eliminated these considerable expenses. The CTC scheme, had it not been scrapped, would have slashed the £43,300 track and signaling costs, and increased the line's already established operating profit.

There is no logical reason why these steps were not taken. It seems that under Beeching BR was hell-bent on cutting down the duplication of routes, and since the Selby line was committed with Trans-Pennine and London expresses, the Market Weighton line had to go, whatever the price.

Potential business from rapidly growing housing developments at Huntington, Stamford Bridge, Pocklington and Market Weighton, and a new industrial estate at Pocklington airfield, also seemed to have been ignored, along with the need for a quick service from Hull to the North East and Scotland via good connections into Inter-City trains at York.

BR claimed that most passengers traveling between Hull and York could do so just as easily via Selby. Through trains certainly took only marginally longer than via Market Weighton but by 1976 there were only two through trains from York to Hull at 15.15 PM and 17.08 PM, the later taking 1 hour 10 minutes. At the end of the 1970's only one each way remained, all other journeys meaning a long wait at Selby. A typical midweek journey in 1979 left York at 09.53 am and arrived Hull at 11.36 am, taking no less than one hour 43 minutes with a wait at Selby from 10.10 am to 10.48 am. Traveling around the same time of day via Market Weighton back in 1965, passengers could leave York 17 minutes later by the 10.10 am express and still arrive in Hull 20 minutes earlier at 11.16 am . There is little wonder that most northbound passengers from Hull forsook rail between Hull and York altogether.

Ironically BR introduced a new service of three through trains each way between York and Hull in June, 1981, to cater for northbound passengers. At the time of introduction they were still 10 minutes slower than the Market Weighton route. Now, with the Selby diversion of the East Coast main line, the journey has been reduced to around 66 minutes which means that after a full 20 years the Selby route has only just become as quick as the Market Weighton route.