Sleights railway station

Sleights railway station is in the village of Sleights in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Esk Valley Line and is operated by Northern Trains who provide all of the station's passenger services. The station serves the village of Sleights, located behind the station, and the hamlet of Briggswath on the opposite side of the valley across the River Esk.

Sleights
Location
Place	Sleights
Local authority	Scarborough
Coordinates	54.461100°N 0.662600°W / 54.461100; -0.662600
Grid reference	NZ867081
Operations
Station code	SLH
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	5,040
2015/16	4,122
2016/17	4,188
2017/18	4,245
2018/19	4,182
History
Original company	Whitby and Pickering Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
15 May 1835 (1835-05-15)	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Sleights from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

Sleights station was on the initial 6.5-mile (10.5 km) section of the Whitby and Pickering Railway between Whitby and Grosmont.[1] Originally just a simple halt, it opened to horse-drawn traffic on 15 May 1835,[2] with a full public service operating from June 1835.[1] The station platforms and the main building, a mock-Tudor design by George Townsend Andrews, were constructed eleven years later and opened in 1846.[3] It used to have two platforms for up and down line working,[4] but in common with the other stations between Grosmont and Whitby, this was reduced to single track working in 1984 when the second track was lifted and Sleights signal box closed.[5] Trains now stop at the former Up line platform[6] where the main station buildings, including the station master's house, are now a grade II listed private residence.[7][8] The former down platform used to have a wooden waiting shed and store; this building was recovered by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and re-erected on the extended down platform at Grosmont.[9] Behind the down platform was a small goods yard with a single siding. The Up line platform is currently managed and maintained by Northern and Esk Valley Railway, whilst the down platform and derelict signal box are the responsibility of Network Rail.

At one end of the platform, a footpath carries passengers over the River Esk to Briggswath on a small box girder bridge, while at the other the A169 towers over the railway and river on a bridge opened on 26 January 1937.[10] The site of the modern day footpath used to be a level crossing carrying the main Whitby-Pickering road to a stone bridge over the Esk,[11] before this was washed away during floods in 1930.[12] Next to the crossing a 19th-century brick built signal box remains, now unused and boarded up.

Services

Northern Trains Route 5: Esk Valley Line
Durham Coast Line to Newcastle & Tees Valley Line to Bishop Auckland Middlesbrough Tees Valley Line to Saltburn James Cook Marton Gypsy Lane Nunthorpe Great Ayton Battersby Kildale Commondale Castleton Moor Danby Lealholm Glaisdale Egton North York Moors Railway to Pickering Grosmont for North York Moors Railway Sleights Ruswarp Whitby

From December 2019 there will be five Monday–Saturday services to Whitby, three to Middlesbrough and one to Newcastle.

Sunday services of four trains in each direction also operate throughout the year, with some of these trains running through to/from Darlington or Newcastle Central.[13]

Whilst heritage trains between Pickering and Whitby from the North York Moors Railway travel through the station, they are not permitted to stop.[14]

References

1. Bairstow 2008, p. 13.
2. Bairstow 2008, p. 111.
3. Ellis, Norman (1995). North Yorkshire railway stations. Ochiltree: Stenlake. p. 29. ISBN 1-872074-63-4.
4. Chapman, Stephen (2008). York to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. p. 89. ISBN 9781871233193.
5. Bairstow 2008, p. 90.
6. Body, Geoffrey (1989). Railways of the Eastern Region. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. p. 122. ISBN 1-85260-072-1.
7. Historic England. "2 Coach Road  (Grade II) (1316164)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
8. Historic England. "Sleights Station (500526)". PastScape. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
9. Hunt, John (2004). The North Yorkshire moors railway : a further trip along the former Whitby & Pickering Railway and through to Malton / vol. 2. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 37. ISBN 1-85895-236-0.
10. Whitworth, Alan (1998). Esk Valley Railway : a travellers' guide ; a description of the history and topography of the line between Whitby and Middlesbrough. Barnsley: Wharncliffe. p. 33. ISBN 1-871647-49-5.
11. Hoole, Ken (1983). Railways of the North York Moors : a pictorial history. Clapham: Dalesman Books. p. 36. ISBN 0-85206-731-3.
12. "River Esk fact file" (PDF). environmentdata.org. Environment Agency. p. 4. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
13. GB National Rail Timetable 2018-19, Table 45
14. Bairstow 2008, p. 106.

Sources

• Bairstow, Martin (2008). Railways Around Whitby Volume One. Farsley: Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-34-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Train times and station information for Sleights railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Grosmont		Northern Trains Esk Valley Line		Ruswarp