Starbeck railway station

Starbeck railway station is located in the eastern suburbs of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Harrogate Line 2.25 miles (3 km) east of Harrogate and is operated by Northern Rail who provide all passenger train services.

Background

The station dates from 1 September 1848 and was the first to serve Harrogate, although intending passengers initially had to make the two and a half mile connection from the town centre on foot or by horse bus as the Leeds & Thirsk company had elected to take an easily-graded route to the east rather than cross the Crimple Valley and serve the town itself. The line on to Ripon and Thirsk was opened the following July, with a further line to Knaresborough and York (courtesy of the East & West Yorkshire Junction Railway) being completed on 1 October 1851. However it was not until both concerns had been absorbed by the North Eastern Railway some years later that the issue of a link into the centre of Harrogate was addressed, with a route via Dragon Junction to a new central station (and on via Crimple Viaduct to Pannal Junction) being commissioned on 1 August 1862.^[1] This new loop soon became the preferred route for most through traffic between Leeds and Teesside, leaving Starbeck to be served primarily by York trains although some freight and excursion traffic continued to use the original L&T line for many years thereafter.

Services on the old line to Pannal ended in October 1951,^[2] whilst the Leeds Northern main line to Ripon & Northallerton was closed to passengers in 1967 and completely two years later.

Services

During Monday to Saturday off-peak, there is a half-hourly service from Starbeck westbound to Leeds and a half-hourly service eastbound to Knaresborough with one train per hour onwards to York.

During evenings and on Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

There are proposals to create another station between Starbeck and Harrogate at Bilton.

Notes

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1

External links

• Train times and station information for Starbeck railway station from National Rail