WARTHILL STATION - a Timeline with significant events to do with the station and the railway line.

Dates in bold are correct. Dates in italics are correct but start/finish dates may be earlier/later - items in red need research

10 March 1800 George Hudson was born at Howsham of yeoman farming stock, moving to York at an early age. He trained as a draper but following an inheritance from a great uncle, found himself one of the richest men in York. Builder of the Railway.

19 December 1804 George Townsend Andrews was born in Exeter. Architect of the station building.

1825 G T Andrews came to York to supervise his partner's Peter Frederick Robinson (1776-1858) work on the Yorkshire County Gaol at York Castle. This lead to him being involved in other work in the York area.

1830 G T Andrews became a friend of G Hudson probably when he remodeled Hudson's house in Monkgate.

1933 G Hudson helped to establish the York Union Bank and was made a director. G T Andrews also became a director in the early 1830s.

30 December 1833 a meeting was held at Mrs. Tomlinson's hotel in Low Petergate where York's Railway Committee was set up, George Hudson became the treasurer.

13 October 1835 At a meeting in the Guildhall the York & North Midland Railway Company was formed. G T Andrews became a member of the Provisional Committee and was one of the group that drew up the company's prospectus. The capital was set at £200,000 in £50 shares and 75% were taken within 24 hours.

21 June 1836 George Hudson became chairman of the new York and North Midland Railway company

21 June 1836 George Hudson's York and North Midland Railway had its first line authorised, which opened on 29 May 1839.

1937 George Hudson became Lord Mayor of York and later member of parliament for York and Sunderland on 14th of August 1845 . Lord Mayor again in 1838 and 1846

August 1839 until early 1849 G T Andrews appears to have designed all the buildings erected by the York & North Midland Railway including the first York station, erected jointly by York & North Midland Railway and the Great North of England Railway in 1841.

1845 during this year, the Hull and Selby Railway, the Manchester and Leeds Railway and the Hull and Barnsley Railways all made threats to the YNMR's monopoly by planning new routes to Hull. The end result being the YNMR was left with a commitment to build its own route from York via Beverley.

30th April 1846 the YNMR Board put its seal to a Parliamentary Bill for a line to Beverley via Market Weighton

18th June 1846 Parliament passed the York and North Midland Railway (East Riding Branches) No. 2 Railway Act. It authorised railways from Bootham, on the York-Scarborough line, to Beverley, on the Hull-Scarborough line, and from Selby to the York-Beverley line at Market Weighton. The Act provided three years for compulsory purchase of land and five years for construction.

12th August 1846 Staking out between Bootham and Market Weighton began and the YNMR directors set 30th September, 1847 as the target date for completion.

November 1846 Contracts totaling £116,029 were awarded in to Messrs Jackson and Bean for the main double line works, and to Burton and Son who constructed the stations under the direction of York architect, G. T. Andrews.

1846 when MP, Lord Mayor and Member for York, George Hudson had purchased the Manor of Weighton and the Londesborough Estates from the 6th Duke of Devonshire. He also owned large estates at Huntington and Shipton all of which the line would run through. He secured big profits from the sales of land over which the railway would pass, then quickly claimed compensation for the loss of revenue of lands lost. Not a very cunning move as he was soon spotted and accused of overcharging the YNMR for the land.

1846-7 when Hudson was in his third term as Lord Mayor of York, G T Andrews was his Sheriff.

4 October 1847 (Monday)The York and North Midland Railway Co., started running a service on the York to Market Weighton line. Warthill station was opened under the name of Stockton to served the villages of Stockton-on-the-Forest and Warthill.

May 1848 Topham's Patented Railway Timetable records for the first time the station's name. It is not known when exactly the station was opened to passengers. (source only had acess to Topham's from this date although there was no other earlier inclution on a timetable)

February 1849 the two Georges fell out and Andrews' railway work ceased.

20 February 1849 Hudson attended a meeting with shareholders of his York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company, in the De Grey Rooms.

May 1849 by this date following an investigation by a shareholder's committee after the February meeting Hudson's shady dealings were found out, his railway career was at an end and he was made bankrupt.

12th July 1849 the YNMR's own Committee of Inquiry into the line stated quite clearly that building the York­Market Weighton branch was pointless without the Beverley extension. The YNMR directors had given the reasons for the halt in work from Market Weighton as being "that conditions as to the nature of certain works on the line laid down by Lord Hotham of Dalton, whose estate the line was to pass through, were such that the venture would not have been worthwhile."

13th July 1849 Powers to divert the extension between Market Weighton and Beverley by a different route (presumably to avoid Lord Hotham) were granted but these were allowed to lapse.

6 September 1849 At a YNMR half yearly meeting a shareholder remarked that the York-Market Weighton line was "a beautifully made line but, unfortunately, without passengers to travel on it".

August, 1850 There was a deputation of Beverley townsfolk as part of a campaign by local people against the halt in work.

June 1851 a Mr. D. Bunton applied for a Mandamus compelling the company to build the line. After switching their plea from being of no public use to insufficient capital, the YNMR Board then realised that they were no longer under any legal obligation to build the line because the period for compulsory purchase of land had lapsed.

31st July, 1854 The North Eastern Railway was formed by the consolidation of the York and North Midland Railway. The York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway and the Leeds Northern Railway, and three months later the Malton & Driffield Junction Railway.

29 December 1855 G T Andrews died.

1860 the NER decided to go ahead with the Beverley line despite the conditions laid down by Lord Hotham, attempting to buy the land by agreement rather than compulsory purchase. This was a largely successful but slow process.

30th June 1862, the Act of Parliament authorising construction was passed and work began in September despite a Parliamentary committee having noted that one landowner had still not accepted reasonable prices.

1st May 1865, the section of line between Market Weighton & Beverley was opened giving a through service to Hull. The first train leaving Hull for York via Market Weighton at 6.40 AM, and one in the opposite direction at 7.10 AM

April 1867 the station now under the control of the North Eastern Railway Co. was renamed Stockton Forest.

About 1870 station was renamed Stockton-On-Forest.

1870 following the abolition of imprisonment for debt Hudson returned to the UK having been abroad since his downfall.

14th December 1871 Hudson died in London.

1st February 1872 station under went its final rename to Warthill.

1872 George Lodge stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's) Does history group have additional copies of Kelly's/Bulmer's or census returns which could give more information on station personnel..

1879 Francis Bailey stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's)

1889-93 John Thos. Wakefield stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's)

1893-1901 John Bellass stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's)

In 1904 the station provided the following services, Goods Station, Passenger & Parcel Station, Live Stock, Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans, and Carriages by Passenger Train. Carriages referred to Gentlemen's private carriages on open trucks.

1913 Alfred E Barrett stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's)

November, 1919 Sir Robert Walker made an application to the Light Railway Commissioners - at that time the responsible body - for the necessary Light Railway Order to create a railway from Warthill to Bossall and the Minister of Transport at that time, Sir Eric Geddes, gave the scheme his full support.

May 1920 and work started on SHLR line at Warthill.

19th August 1921 The Railway Act provided for the 123 separate railway companies to be grouped into four main companies of which the LNER was one.

1921-1925 John William Leadill stationmaster (Kelly's or Bulmer's) Leadhill in book on SHLR

3 April 1922 and the SHLR opened for goods traffic from Warthill to Kissthorn's Sidings, and Claxton.

1st January 1923 The North Eastern Railway became one of the over 30 component parts of the London and North Eastern Railway when the railway regrouping came into force.

December 1923 and the rest of the SHLR line was open.

4th October, 1924 following inspection by Colonel J.W. Pringle, C.B., R.E., the Chief Inspector of Railways for the Ministry of Transport the SHLR commenced a Saturdays only Passenger service on its line between Warthill and Bossall. Their service was included in published timetables (Bradshaws etc.).

5 July 1930 the last running of passenger services by SHLR

30 June 1932 the official closure date of the SHLR - the company was wound up on 4 October 1932.

1933 All traces of the SHLR were dismantled and removed by Thos. W. Ward Ltd, of Sheffield as scrap.

1939 - 45? The Home Guard had a presence on the station site - HQ or pill box or both??? (pill box at end of platform has been suggested

1939 - 1956 Henry Elsworth stationmaster

1 January 1948 The railway was nationalised following the passing of the Transport Act 1947.

1952 Warthill station level crossing became the first in Britain to be equipped with Continental style lifting barriers. Reported in Railway Magazine Feb 1953 and most sources say 1953 - but Sept and  Nov 1952 have been quoted.

1956 to 7/6 or 29/11/1965 John Newton stationmaster

3rd or 5th January 1959 The station was closed to passenger traffic after Saturday the 3rd (the last day of actual service) - Monday the 5th is the first day a service wasn't run. 

December 1960 or January or May 1961, a contract was signed with the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co LTD for the supply and installation of Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) Equipment after a major scheme to modernise the whole line was authorised.

27 March 1963 newly appointed BR chairman Dr. Beeching produced his infamous report "The Reshaping of British Railways"

15 October 1964 a change of Government and new Transport Minister Barbara Castle pledged that the Beeching closures would be halted until a full investigation had been held. She then promptly sanctioned the York-Beverley closure and the date was fixed for 8th October, 1965

7th June 1965 the Goods Services finished at the station on this date and it was permanently closed.

1 November 1965 Freight services on the line stopped after having enjoyed a month's stay of execution.

27th November 1965 The last day of service after which the line was closed. The very last train was the 21.42 PM from York, a wreath-clad six-car DMU packed with locals and enthusiasts ran in heavy snow, as if to warn commuters of the disruption ahead with blocked roads and stranded buses. The York-Beverley had won a reprieve until this date 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.

January, 1966 First train on the line since closure. 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

November, 1968 due to general dereliction and vandals 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.

15th January, 1969, the Eastern Railway Board approved recovery of all the remaining assets, lifting of remaining track and demolition of buildings.

End April 1970 Contractors commenced work to recover track, demolishing buildings and resurfacing level crossings. The station's up track was lifted first, then the down track.

?? Warthill station was converted into a dwelling, where the signal box made a fine garage. Some time after the 1950s a large extension was built on the back of the main building, keeping faithfully to the NER style. Whether this was before or after BR sold it off is not known.

June 2009 - Council approve conversion of signal box into single bedroom dwelling with extention said to be based on an old railway coach!

11 Sept 2009 Signal box and small area of land sold by tender complete with planning authority as above for £75000+