Esk Valley Line
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The Esk Valley Line is the railway line from Middlesbrough to Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. The route follows the course of the River Esk for much of the Eastern half of its route. It is operated by Northern Rail using Class 142 and Class 156 DMUs. Previously Class 144 DMUs used to be worked on this line on a frequent basis. It is one of the most rural railway lines in the United Kingdom and except for a connection with the preserved North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont it's one main line link is via Middlesbrough.
The route that we see today is actually formed from three seperate railway lines. The first to be built was the line from Whitby to Pickering, opened from Whitby to Grosmont in 1835, and to Pickering a year later. It was originally worked by horses, and was convered to take steam locomotion in 1845, having been taken over by the York and North Midland Railway Company. In 1954 it became part of the NER. The section between Grosmont and Pickering was closed under the Beeching cuts, but was one of the first to be taken into private hands as a herratige line, worked by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. At Grosmont, the network line runs west following the river Esk up the valley towards Battersby.
The second railway line ran from Picton (Where it met what is now the East Coast Main Line) and was built by the North Yorkshire and Cleveland, absorbed into the NER in 1958. The section between Grosmont and Castleton was the last to be opened, on the 2nd October 1865. The line was built in stages, opening to mineral traffic as far as Battersby on 6th April 1858 and to passenger traffic from Stokesley to Castleton on 1st April 1861. The section between Battersby and Picton closed in to passengers in 1954, leaving trains the only option to head towards Middlesborough on a third section of line. From Battersby, goods trains also ran south to Ingleby where a cable pulley system raised wagons up a steep incline and across the moors to iron ore workings at Rosedale and Farndale. Today Battersby is a "Y" shaped junction, with trains pulling into a station which is now effectivly a terminus (The old line towards Picton continues on through the station and disappears round a bend before it ends). The driver has to then change ends to drive towards either Whitby or Middlesborough. The Esk Valley line is rare in that is still uses a system known as "token working". Cabinets at Whitby, Glaisdale & Battersby along with a signal man at Nunthorpe pass on keys which allow the unlocking of line sections, ensuring only one train can run on a section at a time. Up until the mid eighties, the line had two tracks, but these were removed between Whitby and Nunthorpe. Trains can still pass at Glaisdale and Battersby, although Glaisdale is now the only station along the single track section that still regularly uses both platforms for "up" and "down" line trains, allowing trains to pass. Between Nunthorpe and Middlesborough the railway remains double track with seperate "up" and "down" platforms.
The line was once part of a large network covering the area, much of which was destroyed by Dr Beeching's cuts. At Whitby Town, the line had its terminus, and from here a single track branched up a steep incline to Prospect Hill Junction from which trains could reach Whitby West Cliff Station and journey north along the coast to Saltburn and on to Middlesborough along the WRMU (Whitby Redcar and Middlesborough Union Railway), or south across the towering red brick Larpool Viaduct towards Scarborough. The WRMU line was closed in the sixties, however the northern section of the line was retained and is still in operation with passenger services between Middlesborough and Saltburn. From Saltburn to Boulby, the line is also still operational as a goods route for potash and rocksalt from Boulby mine.
Between Glaisdale and Lealholm, work was begun by the railway engineer John Wardell on a branch across the moors to make the most of the iron ore in these parts. Originally intended to meet the Guisbrough line, which branched off the WRMU near Boulby, a collapse in the price of the ore meant the line was never finished. At various points along the route you can see the remains of vast earthworks forming unfinished embankments and cuttings. The line was to have one station at Stonegate and nearby a tunnel dug using the "cut and cover" method. The only bridge completed on the line is at Rake Farm, between Lealholm & Glaisdale at the route's junction with the Esk Valley line. The line is still known today as "Paddy Wardell's Railway" due to the number of Irish navvies used in it's construction.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has been running steam trains between Whitby and Glaisdale in the past few years and is planning to try and extend its own route into Whitby Station. This would involve building a new track between Grosmont and Whitby as well as realigning the existing track, repositionned when the second line was taken up in the eighties.
Near Nunthorpe a branch forked off passing Guisborough (with a short branch off this dropping into the town itself) to join the WRMU near it's current end at Boulby mine.
[edit] Route
- Middlesbrough
- Marton
- Gypsy Lane
- Nunthorpe
- Great Ayton
- Battersby - reverse direction
- Kildale
- Commondale
- Castleton Moor
- Danby
- Lealholm
- Glaisdale
- Egton
- Grosmont - junction
- Sleights
- Ruswarp
- Whitby
[edit] Image gallery
 Esk Valley Line, Passing near Berwick Hills near Middlesbrough |
