Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway

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Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway
STR
Stockton & Darlington Railway
BHF
Middlesbrough
ABZlf STRlg
WRMU Railway to Redcar
HST
Marton (formerly Ormesby) (1854-Pres)
HST
Gypsy Lane
HST
Nunthorpe (1854-Pres)
STRrg xABZrf
Nunthorpe-Battersby Link to Battersby
exHST
Pinchinthorpe (1854-1951)
exHST
Hutton Gate (1854-1964)
exSTRrg exABZrf
Link to Cleveland Railway (1878-1960)
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Cleveland Railway North (1861-1865)
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Guisborough (1854-1964)
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Cleveland Railway East (1862-1960)

The Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway (M&G) was a railway line serving the towns of Middlesbrough and Guisborough as well as areas of the Eston Hills in North Yorkshire from 1853 through to 1964.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The Beginning

The M&G was backed by the Pease family, one of the major iron ore mine owners. It was one of two railway schemes (along with the Cleveland Railway) competing for the mining business in the area. It was promoted by the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR), which worked the line and absorbed it in 1858.

The line was opened in 1853 to an iron ore mine at Cod Hill, and passenger services started a year later, stopping in the villages of Ormesby, Nunthorpe and Pinchinthorpe, before terminating at Guisborough. A private station also existed for the sole use of the Pease family at Hutton Gate for the nearby Hutton Hall.

The Cleveland Railway's original Act was for a line east of Guisborough, but it also developed a rival line across private land branching from further along the S&DR than the M&G, and after permission from the government, its line extended to Guisborough, meaning the town was served by two railway lines.

Despite the line's close proximity to the Picton-Battersby Line, it took until around 1865 for a link to be built between the two.

[edit] As Part of NER

During 1863-5 both M&G and the Cleveland Railway were absorbed by NER and the old Cleveland line was abandoned south of Ormesby. NER then connected the line east of Guisborough to the M&G line before Guisborough, meaning trains had to reverse out of the terminal before continuing along the line to Loftus. It remained this way until its closure in 1960.

A new station was built at Pitchinthorpe and in 1904, Hutton Gate was purchased for public use. The remaining stretch of the Cleveland line was connected to the Middlesbrough-Redcar line and was run as a goods service until 1966.

Pitchinthorpe station closed in 1951, with Hutton Gate and Guisborough closing when the branch line service to Middlesbrough ended in 1964.

[edit] The Present Day

The line from Nunthorpe Junction to Guisborough closed in 1964 leaving the section from Middlesbrough open to Battersby, and still remains in use as part of the Esk Valley Line[1], represented by the non-faded part of the diagram.

Ormesby station was renamed to Marton to take advantage of the James Cook connection, and Gypsy Lane was opened.[2]

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Suggitt, G. (2005). Lost Railways of North & East Yorkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-918-3
  2. ^ New Popular Edition Maps