Harrogate Line

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 East Coast,. Metro's bus and rail MetroCard ticket is available for journeys between Leeds and Harrogate.^[1]

The route

History

The routes over which the Harrogate Line trains now run were opened in 1848 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.

Route description

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, trains scheduled to operate via Harrogate through to York are shown with the destination of "Poppleton via Harrogate" because the Leeds-York journey via this route takes 40 minutes longer than the shorter York & Selby Lines route.
• here was Leeds Royal Gardens, only a short distance from Burley Park
• here was Cardigan Road Goods station
• Burley Park.
• Headingley (near B6157 Kirkstall Lane - the closest station to the Headingley Lane end of Headingley Stadium)
• 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 physically the closest railway station to Leeds & Bradford Airport, though no public transport link currently exists between Horsforth station and the Airport terminal.
• 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, though recent interest in reopening as a park and ride facility for Pool-in Wharfedale has been mooted)
• 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 Also the closest station to the Great Yorkshire Showground
• Harrogate for Harrogate and its Bus Station
• A potential station proposed by Harrogate Council/NYCC at Bilton, between Harrogate and Starbeck.
• 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
• York, which, apart from the East Coast Main Line services, is also served by Metro routes York & Selby and Dearne Valley Line (At York station, trains travelling to Leeds via Harrogate are shown with the destination of Burley Park.)

The line is unusual outside London for the close proximity of many stations, there being five stations for example in the seven mile section between Pannal and Knaresborough. Harrogate and Hornbeam Park are less than one mile apart, as are Burley Park and Headingley.

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 Revenue Protection staff at the entrances to the platforms. This is to reduce the queue for tickets at Leeds station.

On weekdays a daily morning direct service to London King's Cross operates via Leeds. On 20 January 2011 the Government owned East Coast Franchise Operator (East Coast Trains) announced that following strong local representations an evening return service is to be reinstated, providing a direct train from London to Harrogate, and which will operate 7 days a week from May 2011.

Trains

The route is served by a wide variety of Northern Rail rolling stock, the most common seen on the line are the Class 144 "Pacer", Class 150 "Sprinter", and Class 153 "Super Sprinter".

Proposal to electrify the line and use former London Underground trains

In July 2011, Harrogate Chamber of Commerce proposed to electrify the line with third-rail, using D Stock of the London Underground, in order to substantially increase capacity.^[2] The D stock's replacement by S Stock on the District Line in 2015 will make them available for other locations (they are not yet life-expired, having been built in 1980-83). It is proposed that the stock will be converted to use the bottom-contact third rail system.^[3] Several new stations have also been proposed.

References

1. ^ http://www.wymetro.com/TicketsAndPasses/Metrorailcard
2. ^ "HARROGATE LINE NEWS 1 1st Meeting supports bid" (PDF). Harrogate Chamber of Commerce. August 12 2011. http://www.harrogatechamber.org/PDF%20&%20Word%20Files/HC484-Harrogate%20Line%20News.pdf. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.harrogatechamber.org/harrogateline_faq1.htm

External links

• Metro line details (fare structure, map etc)