York - Beverly Route, York Council says project is achieveable

[HaxbyFur]

Was reading in our local paper a week or two ago that the plans put forward to reopen the York to Beverly route was achievable. As far as I know there have been talks about it in the past but in Pocklington and Osbaldick housing has been developed over the route of the old railway.

Apparently a plan was put forward which shows ways around these problems and it is this plan which the council has said is achievable. The junction between the location that the line once started, (now a cycle path so can be redeveloped), is at the location that there has been plans to create a second station near the hospital, and the route still has its infastructure near Stamford Bridge where bridge's and viaducts over the countryside and River Derwent are still intact.

The route would be effective in the York to Hull route which is just down the line from Beverly, the line of which is used very little for its Hull to Scarborough services, and by the looks of the York to Hull train there is definitely demand for it.

York Council has been criticised in the past for not providing enough new housing, so a new branch line to Hull would allow the areas of Stamford Bridge, Market Weighton (I think) and Pocklington to develop more as commuter locations to both York and Hull.


(can't find the local paper's story, but here's a related BBC article :P)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2005/03/22/bev_york_railway_feature.shtml

 

[gordonthemoron]

whilst there is an infrequent service between Scarborough and Hull, the Beverley-Hull section has a very regular service

 

[HaxbyFur]

whilst there is an infrequent service between Scarborough and Hull, the Beverley-Hull section has a very regular service

Yeah come to think of it, I remember seeing a FTP Class 158 when I was waiting for an NXEC at Doncaster which terminated in Bridlington.. can't understand where it would go from from there unless it double backs on itself :P

 

[MCR247]

Are you sure it wasnt an NT one in unbranded FTP livery going via Hull as thats a regular service

 

[HaxbyFur]

Are you sure it wasnt an NT one in unbranded FTP livery going via Hull as thats a regular service

It might have been going via Hull, but it was definitely in a First Livery, similar to the stock they have on the York > Scarborough route (livery wise).

 

[MCR247]

now you've confused me, as 185s (the current York-Scarborough trains) carry dynamic lines http://www.railwayscene.co.uk/image.php?imgref=3400
And the 158s only carried this http://avocetlinerailusers.wikispac...anspennine_livery...N-Williamson.jpg/31408511

 

[HaxbyFur]

now you've confused me, as 185s (the current York-Scarborough trains) carry dynamic lines http://www.railwayscene.co.uk/image.php?imgref=3400
And the 158s only carried this http://avocetlinerailusers.wikispac...anspennine_livery...N-Williamson.jpg/31408511

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...d_Class_158_No._158748_at_Cardiff_Central.JPG

It was that, not sure if that exact train itself but the same Class and livery.. don't ask me what it was doing in Doncaster

 

[MCR247]

Dont think that would of been the train since FGW are short of units themselves :?

 

[HaxbyFur]

Dont think that would of been the train since FGW are short of units themselves :?

It was that livery for sure, thought it would have been just a bog standard first livery but now coming to look at it it does seem strange for that to be up there, but it was on Platform 4 (I think) at Doncaster heading for Bridlington, and it was going via Hull because one of the passengers asked the Train Driver who had got out of his cab to check something underneath the first carriage and talk to the ticket inspector.

 

[yorksrob]

About time too - this would seem to be one of the better cases for re-opening in that there are some decent sized settlements along the way, the local A-road suffers congestion and is difficult to widen and the trackbed is relatively intact (and the developed pockets are by-passable). Also, as the article suggests, the route would be useful for longer journeys providing a more direct northward link between Hull/Beverley and York.

The paragraph surrounding the original closure process followed by the good Doctor is particularly illuminating. In addition to the article, I read in a book ["lost lines North Eastern" by Nigel Wellbourne] that station costs at York and Beverley were included in the lines operating costs to trump up the case for closure.

Needless to say, our present government are neither use nor ornament with regard to re-opening.

 

[HaxbyFur]

About time too - this would seem to be one of the better cases for re-opening in that there are some decent sized settlements along the way, the local A-road suffers congestion and is difficult to widen and the trackbed is relatively intact (and the developed pockets are by-passable). Also, as the article suggests, the route would be useful for longer journeys providing a more direct northward link between Hull/Beverley and York.

The paragraph surrounding the original closure process followed by the good Doctor is particularly illuminating. In addition to the article, I read in a book ["lost lines North Eastern" by Nigel Wellbourne] that station costs at York and Beverley were included in the lines operating costs to trump up the case for closure.

Needless to say, our present government are neither use nor ornament with regard to re-opening.

Also just to add, because I was extremely bored I plotted the route on Google Earth, and for some reason I got a different route with it going through Dunnington, Pocklington and Market Weighton, yet it was on old trackbed and where not possible used a feasible route around.

 

[ricster]

East Riding of Yorkshire council has already identified alternate routes around / through the built up areas (im the one who found the linked pdfs and added them to the wikipedia article earlier this year)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_to_Beverley_Line#Reopening.3F

 

[4SRKT]

Was reading in our local paper a week or two ago that the plans put forward to reopen the York to Beverly route was achievable. As far as I know there have been talks about it in the past but in Pocklington and Osbaldick housing has been developed over the route of the old railway.

Apparently a plan was put forward which shows ways around these problems and it is this plan which the council has said is achievable. The junction between the location that the line once started, (now a cycle path so can be redeveloped), is at the location that there has been plans to create a second station near the hospital, and the route still has its infastructure near Stamford Bridge where bridge's and viaducts over the countryside and River Derwent are still intact.

The route would be effective in the York to Hull route which is just down the line from Beverly, the line of which is used very little for its Hull to Scarborough services, and by the looks of the York to Hull train there is definitely demand for it.

York Council has been criticised in the past for not providing enough new housing, so a new branch line to Hull would allow the areas of Stamford Bridge, Market Weighton (I think) and Pocklington to develop more as commuter locations to both York and Hull.


(can't find the local paper's story, but here's a related BBC article :P)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2005/03/22/bev_york_railway_feature.shtml

Not Osbaldwick. The line branched off at New Earswick, and ran through what is now heavily built up parts of Huntington, including (incoveniently) along the very busy Link Road between Haxby Road and Huntington Road. I can confirm from having attempted to find it several times as a teenager, that the trackbed has been extensively ploughed up between Stamford Bridge and Pocklington.

This is one of the few things Beeching got totally wrong. This line should never have even been considered for closure, never mind been axed. Pock and Market Weighton were substantial villages even then, and by this stage are important dormitory towns for both Hull and York. Traffic on the A1079 is odious at the best of times, and the bus journey from Pock to York about as miserable an experience as living in East Yorkshire has to offer (and that's what I call misery, kiddies!).

OTOH, do we really want hoards of weird six-fingered, web-toed inbreds from the wilds of East Yorkshire descending on York and frightening the natives? I'm not so sure. Maybe Beeching knew what he was doing after all!

 

[Max]

This is one of the few things Beeching got totally wrong. This line should never have even been considered for closure, never mind been axed. Pock and Market Weighton were substantial villages even then, and by this stage are important dormitory towns for both Hull and York. Traffic on the A1079 is odious at the best of times, and the bus journey from Pock to York about as miserable an experience as living in East Yorkshire has to offer (and that's what I call misery, kiddies!).

OTOH, do we really want hoards of weird six-fingered, web-toed inbreds from the wilds of East Yorkshire descending on York and frightening the natives? I'm not so sure. Maybe Beeching knew what he was doing after all!

Charming :roll: - I've lived in the East Riding all my life and I find it to be a great area, although I gather some of the villages can be a bit dull.

Regarding the line, it would bring significant infrastructural and economical benefits if it was reinstated. A decent link between Beverley and York is desperately needed. Whether it will ever happen is another matter. I fear in a new age of cost cutting in the public sector there simply won't be rooms for schemes such as this, despite the potential benefits.

 

[gordonthemoron]

I think that LordShipley was just being sarcastic

 

[4SRKT]

I think that LordShipley was just being sarcastic

Indeed he was. Apologies if anyone's offended. Mocking people from East Yorkshire is a thing I've been doing since that story on Look North a few years back about a bloke who was caught getting jiggy with his goat in a field near Brough by a whole trainload of commuters, who promptly 'phoned the relevant authorities! You'd think he'd at least have had the sense not to do it right next to the railway line, but maybe his ardour was just too uncontrollable.........

 

[HaxbyFur]

Not Osbaldwick. The line branched off at New Earswick, and ran through what is now heavily built up parts of Huntington, including (incoveniently) along the very busy Link Road between Haxby Road and Huntington Road. I can confirm from having attempted to find it several times as a teenager, that the trackbed has been extensively ploughed up between Stamford Bridge and Pocklington.

This is one of the few things Beeching got totally wrong. This line should never have even been considered for closure, never mind been axed. Pock and Market Weighton were substantial villages even then, and by this stage are important dormitory towns for both Hull and York. Traffic on the A1079 is odious at the best of times, and the bus journey from Pock to York about as miserable an experience as living in East Yorkshire has to offer (and that's what I call misery, kiddies!).

OTOH, do we really want hoards of weird six-fingered, web-toed inbreds from the wilds of East Yorkshire descending on York and frightening the natives? I'm not so sure. Maybe Beeching knew what he was doing after all!

Yeah you're right, I use the link road to get to work each day, but I had a play around on Google Earth and by seeing the old Osbaldwick Railway Path a few times it would be a lot more of a feasible project than ploughing through Earswick and/or more time effective than the line branching off after Haxby or another rural location on the Scarborough line as you might as well just use the Selby route at that distance.

As some people may not be aware, there are two derelict railways between York Station and Haxby, one branched off at Earswick and as 4SKRT rightfully pointed out is now replaced by a link road at the River Foss bridge and the area is heavily residential. The other line however, which branched off just before the Nestle factory used to travel in a loop around the city centre and through Osbaldwick, the Yorkshire Farming museum still has part of the railway privatised that you can see from the A64.

After looking on Google Earth I created a possible route path which went from York via the Osbaldwick route, past Dunnington, Wilberfoss, Pocklington, Market Weighton and on to Beverly which only went through 1 or 2 houses. So maybe that's a viable option?

 

[4SRKT]

Yeah you're right, I use the link road to get to work each day, but I had a play around on Google Earth and by seeing the old Osbaldwick Railway Path a few times it would be a lot more of a feasible project than ploughing through Earswick and/or more time effective than the line branching off after Haxby or another rural location on the Scarborough line as you might as well just use the Selby route at that distance.

As some people may not be aware, there are two derelict railways between York Station and Haxby, one branched off at Earswick and as 4SKRT rightfully pointed out is now replaced by a link road at the River Foss bridge and the area is heavily residential. The other line however, which branched off just before the Nestle factory used to travel in a loop around the city centre and through Osbaldwick, the Yorkshire Farming museum still has part of the railway privatised that you can see from the A64.

After looking on Google Earth I created a possible route path which went from York via the Osbaldwick route, past Dunnington, Wilberfoss, Pocklington, Market Weighton and on to Beverly which only went through 1 or 2 houses. So maybe that's a viable option?

As the route through Dunnington went on to Cliffe Common near Selby (Derwent Valley Light Railway), you'd have to build a completely new alignment between Dunnington and Pock. I'm not saying this couldn't be done, or that this wouldn't actually be a slightly more direct route to Hull. You would however miss out on the large traffic potential of Stamford Bridge and Huntington/New Earswick. ANYTHING that prevented me from having to use Haxby or Huntington Roads to get into York would be a godsend!

 

[yorksrob]

Looking at google earth, it looks as if a realistic route might be to loop North through Earswick and follow the A1237. This could rejoin the original alignment fairly near to York and would cause minimum nuisence to residents as it would follow an existing main road.

 

[HaxbyFur]

Looking at google earth, it looks as if a realistic route might be to loop North through Earswick and follow the A1237. This could rejoin the original alignment fairly near to York and would cause minimum nuisence to residents as it would follow an existing main road.

Good point actually, although how would it get past the A64? A level crossing would be out of the question and they've only recently re-done the junction there, (be it not that well considering the corner is too sharp for lorries but still).

 

[ricster]

I plotted it using a combo of the original alignment and the land around SB,Pock,MW and Bev that they've proposed/protected for it, including the proposed station sites.

The beverley end does not have a proposed northward connection (despite the councils own doc suggesting a freight terminal at Carnaby) and everything west of stamford bridge is north yorkshire, so i guestimated that part.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=53...6425453&lvl=11&sty=h&cid=2EF26FE446D43364!393