Wharram railway station

Wharram
The former station at Wharram
General information
Location	Wharram-le-Street, North Yorkshire England
Coordinates	54°04′37″N0°41′22″W / 54.076930°N 0.689380°W / 54.076930; -0.689380 Coordinates: 54°04′37″N0°41′22″W / 54.076930°N 0.689380°W / 54.076930; -0.689380
Grid reference	SE 858 653
Platforms	1 [1] [2] [3] [4]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Malton and Driffield Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
19 May 1853	Opened
5 June 1950	Line and station closed to passengers [5] [6]
20 October 1958	Line and station closed completely [7]

v t e Malton and Driffield Junction Railway
Legend
York–Scarborough line to York Malton Thirsk & Malton Rly to Gilling York–Scarborough line to Scarborough Settrington North Grimston Wharram Burdale Tunnel 1747 yd 1597 m Burdale Sledmere and Fimber Fimber Halt (opened 2015) Wetwang Garton Selby–Driffield line to Market Weighton Hull–Scarborough line to Hull Driffield Hull–Scarborough line to Scarborough

Wharram railway station was opened by the Malton and Driffield Railway in May 1853, serving the village of Wharram-le-Street in North Yorkshire, England, although the area was in the East Riding of Yorkshire at the time. ^{[8] [9]} The station was also near the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy and adjacent to Wharram chalk quarry. ^[10]

The single platform station had a passing loop off its southern end, the only one on the line. It had the customary goods facilities for wayside stations, plus a siding into Wharram Quarry, dominated by a large chalk silo. ^{[11] [12]}

Enamel station sign

The line was originally conceived as part of a trunk route between Kingston-upon-Hull and the North East of England, but this came to very little. The station remained throughout its life as a country station on a country byway. In some periods of its life four passenger trains a day ran in each direction between Malton and Driffield, calling at all stations between, but for the most part just three called, with no Sunday service after the outbreak of the First World War. These trains were nicknamed the "Malton Dodger". They usually had either one or two coaches, often strengthened by one or more horse boxes in this racing country. Before the Second World War, intermittent excursion traffic called at Wharram to view the station's floral displays and well as the area's scenery. ^[13]

In the summer of 1950, the station witnessed the passing of a Summer Saturday Filey to Newcastle train and return, which travelled via Driffield, Wharram and Gilling, joining the East Coast Main Line at Pilmoor Junction. ^[14]

The station and line closed to passenger traffic in June 1950. Although it was said to be reasonably loaded on Saturdays (Market Days), it carried few people except schoolchildren otherwise. ^[15] The line and station were reopened to passengers in February 1953 and February 1958 when the area's roads were impassable due to snow. ^[16]

Freight traffic and occasional passenger specials ^{[17] [18] [19]} continued until the line closed completely on 20 October 1958, the last pickup goods having called on the 18th. ^[7]

The quarry had "followed a similar pattern to North Grimston - rapid expansion in the post-First World War boom, enormous output in the 1920s, declining in the 1930s and fizzling out after the Second World war." ^[20] In 1919 a private siding was built in the quarry with exits in both directions onto the running line. Traffic growth was dramatic, peaking in 1925 with 107,261 tons of chalk forwarded to Thirsk, bypassing Malton as the line had originally been conceived. This was down to 38,562 tons in 1926 and to a mere 3,000 tons in 1929. The quarry closed in 1930. It reopened later in the 1930s, but its output was sporadic and small scale, mainly travelling by road in bags. Such rail traffic as there was was mainly coal for the quarry's kilns. ^[21] The quarry was disused by 1960 and has become a wildlife reserve. ^[22]

The track was lifted shortly after closure, but the station building remained in use as a private residence. ^{[23] [24]} In 2005 the station's water tower remained in place. ^[25]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
North Grimston Line and station closed		North Eastern Railway Malton and Driffield Railway		Burdale Line and station closed

The water tower at Wharram station

References

1. Burton 1997, p. 31.
2. "Station history". Disused Stations. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
3. "Signalbox diagram". Pinzac55. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
4. "Sidings diagram". Pinzac55. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
5. Butt 1995, p. 247.
6. Quick 2009, p. 408.
7. Burton 1997, p. 72.
8. Smith & Turner 2012, Maps 22 & 22A.
9. Jowett 1989, Map 53.
10. • "The Chalk Getters – A Wharram Study". British Pathé, via YouTube (video, silent). 1933. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
11. Burton 1997, pp. 31 & 35–40.
12. Bairstow 1990, p. 47.
13. Burton 1997, p. 39.
14. Burton 1997, p. 82.
15. Bedale & Goode 1976, pp. 32–3.
16. Cooke 1958b, p. 802.
17. "Yorkshireman Railtour 6 June 1957". Six Bells Junction.
18. "Yorkshire Coast Railtour 23 June 1957". Six Bells Junction.
19. Burton 1997, p. 38.
20. Burton 1997, p. 61.
21. Burton 1997, pp. 61–63.
22. "Wharram Quarry Nature Reserve". Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
23. Burton 1997, p. 78.
24. "Station building in 1976". Pinzac55. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
25. Suggitt 2005, p. 107.

Sources

• Bairstow, Martin (1990). Railways in East Yorkshire. Halifax: Martin Bairstow. ISBN   978-1-871944-03-7.
• Bedale, Len; Goode, C.T. (1976). Stationmaster. Sheffield: Turntable Publications. ISBN   978-0-902844-36-0.
• Burton, Warwick (1997). The Malton & Driffield Junction Railway. Halifax: Martin Bairstow. ISBN   978-1-871944-16-7.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
• Cooke, B.W.C., ed. (November 1958a). "The Malton-Driffield Line". Notes and News. The Railway Magazine . Vol. 104, no. 691. London: Tothill Press Limited. pp. 801–2.
• Cooke, B.W.C., ed. (November 1958b). "End of the "Malton Dodger"". Notes and News. The Railway Magazine . Vol. 104, no. 691. London: Tothill Press Limited. p. 802.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC   22311137.
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN   978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC   612226077.
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7110-3695-6.
• Suggitt, Gordon (2005). Lost Railways of North and East Yorkshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN   978-1-85306-918-5.

Further material

• Bradshaw, George (1968) [April 1910]. April 1910 Railway Guide. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN   978-0-7153-4246-6. OCLC   30645.
• Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN   978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC   12500436.
• Hoole, Ken (February 1959). Mansell, K.G. (ed.). "The Malton-Driffield Branch". Railway World. London: Railway World Limited. 20 (224).

External links

• Station and line on navigable OS maps Rail Map Online
• Station and line on navigable OS maps National Library of Scotland
• Station and line on navigable 1947 OS map NPE Maps
• Station and mileages on line MAD Railway Codes
• Station and its history Yorkshire Wolds Railway