Harrogate Line

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Harrogate Line
Legend Leeds Burley Park Headingley Horsforth Woodside (planned) Horsforth Weeton Pannal Hornbeam Park Harrogate Starbeck Knaresborough Cattal Hammerton Poppleton York

The Harrogate Line is the name given to a passenger rail service through parts of North Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England connecting Leeds to York by way of Harrogate and Knaresborough. The service is operated by Northern Rail, with a few additional workings by National Express East Coast. West Yorkshire PTE's bus and rail MetroCard ticket is available for journeys between Leeds and Horsforth.

[edit] The route

[edit] History

The routes over which the Harrogate Line trains now run were opened in the early 1850s by two of the railways which came to be part of the North Eastern Railway: the Leeds Northern Railway and the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway. At the time of the 1923 Grouping the Harrogate area formed the junction for six routes: the main line was that from Leeds-Northallerton railway; the other lines were to:

• Pateley Bridge;
• Pilmoor on the East Coast Main Line; from that line was the junction for the line to York (the only remaining section open)
• Wetherby, where there were lines to
  • Cross Gates;
  • Church Fenton via Tadcaster

The Leeds station at the time was Leeds Central station, jointly owned by the NER and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

The line terminated in Harrogate at the Brunswick Station opened in 1848 but closed in 1862 when a new and more central station was opened in Harrogate. Little is known about the Brunswick Station but what information is available can be see on the web site for http://www.aeden.plus.com/nc.htm G W G Cass, former headmaster of Norwood College in Harrogate.

[edit] Route description

Schematic diagram of the Harrogate Line including closed stations and branch lines, with dates from Daniels G and Dench L A, Passengers No More 2nd ed; London: Ian Allen Ltd 1973

The 62 km line is composed of all or part of the following Network Rail routes:

• LNE 9 from Leeds
• LNE 6A from Leeds West Junction
• LNE 6 from Harrogate
• LNE 2 from Skelton Junction to York

Currently open stations in bold.

• Leeds City station
• here was Leeds Royal Gardens, only a short distance from Burley Park
• here was Cardigan Road Goods station
• Burley Park.
  • Trains travelling from York to Leeds via Harrogate and Knaresborough are shown as travelling to Burley Park as this route takes 40 minutes longer than the York & Selby Lines route.
• Headingley (near B6157 Kirkstall lane)
• here was Horsforth Woodside station which closed in 1864 and is located near the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road. It is speculated that a new station will open here in the future. Yorkshire Evening Post article
• Horsforth
• here is Bramhope Tunnel 2 miles 220 yd (3418 m) the longest on the NER system
• here was Arthington station, and a triangular junction for the line to Otley (station and branch now closed)
• Weeton for Huby and Weeton
• Pannal for Pannal, Burn Bridge and Spacey Houses. Here was the junction for the line connecting Harrogate to Wetherby. The present line climbs and then turns sharply to join the former route to Wetherby and cross Crimple Viaduct, under which the original main line passed, en route to Starbeck. The course of this section (closed in 1951) can be seen from the viaduct Aerial View.
• Hornbeam Park for Oatlands
• Harrogate for Harrogate and its Bus Station
• Starbeck for Starbeck and Woodlands. Here were the junctions for Pateley Bridge and Northallerton.
• Knaresborough near Knaresborough High Street (the A59). Here was the line to Pilmoor. The line crosses the River Nidd on a high bridge.
  • here followed two stations, now closed: for Goldsborough and Allerton
• Cattal for Cattal, Whixley and Green Hammerton
• Hammerton for Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton
  • here was Hessay station, now closed
• Poppleton for Upper Poppleton and Nether Poppleton

Poppleton is shown on the Leeds City station destination boards so that passengers don't catch this service all the way to York as it takes 40 minutes longer.

• York railway station for York, which, apart from the East Coast Main Line services, is also served by Metro routes York & Selby and Dearne Valley Lines

[edit] Special Services

In addition to the regular services on the Harrogate Line occasionally when there is a major event on at Headingley Stadium such as an international cricket test match there is an increased service which runs prior to and after each such game. The services run between Leeds and Horsforth stations to cater for a large usage at Headingley and Burley Park railway stations and tickets are sold by conductors at the entrances to the platforms. This is to reduce the queue for tickets at Leeds station.

[edit] External links

• Metro line details (fare structure, map etc)