Saltburn railway station

Saltburn is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 12 miles 57 chains (20.5 km) east of Middlesbrough, serves the seaside town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

Saltburn
General information
LocationSaltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland
England
Coordinates54°35′00″N 0°58′31″W
Grid referenceNZ664214
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms2
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeSLB
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyNorth Eastern Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-grouping
Key dates
19 August 1861Opened
Passengers
2016/17 0.244 million
2017/18 0.237 million
2018/19 0.241 million
2019/20 0.257 million
2020/21 61,660
Services
Preceding station Northern Following station
Marske Tees Valley Line Terminus
Location
Saltburn
Location in North Yorkshire, England
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened by the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the terminus of their line from Redcar on 17 August 1861 (although the ornate station building was not finished until the following year). Eleven years later, the North Eastern Railway opened a line towards Brotton (the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway)[1] from the town, but this diverged from the original route some 440 yards (400 m) west of the 1861 station in order to avoid excessively steep gradients further east. This meant the passenger trains from the town to Loftus and Whitby that started in 1875 had to reverse into and out of the terminus before regaining the correct direction at Saltburn West Junction. This line is still in operation today to serve the Skinningrove Steelworks and the Boulby potash mine, although passenger trains ceased in 1958.

In its heyday, the station had four platforms and a sizeable number of carriage sidings to handle the large quantities of excursion trains that ran there - these included services from as far away as Leeds and Blackpool.[2] There was also a short siding extension (approximately 300 yards (270 m)) from the main station to another platform at the rear of the railway-owned Zetland Hotel (opened in 1863) where passengers in first class carriages could disembark directly into their accommodation.

A 1974 remodelling scheme[3] saw the station reduced in size with the two main platforms and signal box being taken out of use along with most of the sidings and one of the two running lines from West Junction. Today both of the two surviving excursion bay platforms are used for scheduled services (though most trains use platform 1) but neither the main station building nor the Zetland Hotel is in rail-related use - the former having been converted into a photographic studio, cafe and various other retail outlets and the latter into luxury flats.

Facilities

It is unmanned, and has two acrylic glass passenger shelters, bench seating and an electronic information board. A self-service ticket machine has also been installed to allow intending passenger to buy tickets prior to travel or collect pre-paid tickets. Step-free access is available from the main entrance to both platforms.[4]

Station facilities here were improved in Summer 2012. The package for this station included new waiting shelters, decorative planting schemes, renewed station signage, a digital information screen displaying live departures, and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.

Services

Northern Trains
Route 3
Tees Valley Line
Bishop Auckland
Shildon
Newton Aycliffe
Heighington
North Road
Darlington
Dinsdale
Teesside Airport
Allens West
Eaglescliffe
Thornaby
Middlesbrough
South Bank
Redcar Central
Redcar East
Longbeck
Marske
Saltburn

As of the May 2021 timetable change, the station is served by two trains per hour between Saltburn and Darlington via Middlesbrough, with one train per hour extending to Bishop Auckland. An hourly service operates between Saltburn and Bishop Auckland on Sunday. All services are operated by Northern Trains.[5]

Rolling stock used: Class 156 Super Sprinter and Class 158 Express Sprinter

Future Services

From May 2022 Transpenine Express will extend their hourly Manchester Airport via York service to Saltburn. The service currently terminates at Redcar Central.[6]

References

  1. Body, p. 146
  2. Binns, p. 31
  3. Hunt, J - Article in RAIL Magazine, Issue 610 (January 2009); p.49
  4. Saltburn station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 3 February 2017
  5. "Train times: Bishop Auckland and Darlington to Middlesbrough and Saltburn" (PDF). Northern Trains. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Banks, Georgia; Himelfield, Dave (16 October 2021). "You'll soon be able to get a direct train to Yorkshire's best beach". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 17 October 2021.

Sources

  • Binns, D. (1981), Railways Around Skipton, Wyvern Publications, Skipton.
  • Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Terminus   Northern Trains
Tees Valley Line
  Marske
This station offers access to the Cleveland Way
Distance to path
Next station anticlockwiseKildale 8 miles
Next station clockwiseWhitby 19 miles
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