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Saltburn railway station

Coordinates: 54°35′00″N 0°58′31″W / 54.5834185°N 0.9752233°W / 54.5834185; -0.9752233
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Saltburn
National Rail
General information
LocationSaltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland
England
Coordinates54°35′00″N 0°58′31″W / 54.5834185°N 0.9752233°W / 54.5834185; -0.9752233
Grid referenceNZ664214
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms2
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeSLB
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyNorth Eastern Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-grouping
Key dates
19 August 1861Opened
Passengers
2018/19Increase 0.241 million
2019/20Increase 0.257 million
2020/21Decrease 61,660
2021/22Increase 0.202 million
2022/23Increase 0.249 million
Location
Saltburn is located in North Yorkshire
Saltburn
Saltburn
Location in North Yorkshire, England
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Saltburn is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 12 miles 57 chains (20.5 km) east of Middlesbrough, serves the seaside town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

History

[edit]

The station was opened by the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the terminus of their line from Redcar on 17 August 1861 (although the ornate station building was not finished until the following year). Eleven years later, the North Eastern Railway opened a line towards Brotton (the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway)[1] from the town, but this diverged from the original route some 440 yards (400 m) west of the 1861 station in order to avoid excessively steep gradients further east. This meant the passenger trains from the town to Loftus and Whitby that started in 1875 had to reverse into and out of the terminus before regaining the correct direction at Saltburn West Junction. This line is still in operation today to serve the Skinningrove Steelworks and the Boulby potash mine, although passenger trains ceased in 1958.

In its heyday, the station had four platforms and a sizeable number of carriage sidings to handle the large quantities of excursion trains that ran there – these included services from as far away as Leeds and Blackpool.[2] There was also a short siding extension (approximately 300 yards (270 m)) from the main station to another platform at the rear of the railway-owned Zetland Hotel (opened in 1863) where passengers in first class carriages could disembark directly into their accommodation.

A 1974 remodelling scheme[3] saw the station reduced in size with the two main platforms and signal box being taken out of use along with most of the sidings and one of the two running lines from West Junction. Today both of the two surviving excursion bay platforms are used for scheduled services, but neither the main station building nor the Zetland Hotel is in rail-related use – the former having been converted into a photographic studio, cafe and various other retail outlets and the latter into luxury flats.

Tees Valley Metro

[edit]
Transit diagram showcasing all discussed or mentioned ideas for the Tees Valley Metro.

Starting in 2006, Saltburn was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions.[4][5][6][7]

As part of the scheme, Saltburn Station would have received new shelters and new electronic information displays, as well as improved service to Darlington (1–2 to 4 trains per hour).[4]

However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved.[8] Several stations eventually got their improvements including Saltburn in 2012,[9] and there is a possibility of improved rollingstock and services in the future which may affect Saltburn.[10]

Facilities

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It is unmanned, and has two acrylic glass passenger shelters, bench seating and an electronic information board. A self-service ticket machine has also been installed to allow intending passenger to buy tickets prior to travel or collect pre-paid tickets. Step-free access is available from the main entrance to both platforms.[11]

Station facilities here were improved in Summer 2012. The package for this station included new waiting shelters, decorative planting schemes, renewed station signage, a digital information screen displaying live departures, and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.[9]

Services

[edit]
Northern Trains
Route 3
Tees Valley line
Bishop Auckland      
Heritage railway
Shildon
Newton Aycliffe
Heighington
North Road
Darlington
Dinsdale
Allens West
Eaglescliffe
Thornaby
Middlesbrough
South Bank
Redcar Central
Redcar East
Longbeck
Marske
Saltburn

As of December 2023, the station is served by two trains per hour to Darlington, of which one continues to Bishop Auckland, operated by Northern Trains.[12] The station is also served by an hourly TransPennine Express service to Manchester Airport via Yarm.[13] Northern services use platform 1 and TPE trains usually depart from platform 2.

On Sundays, the station is served by an hourly Northern Trains service to Bishop Auckland and an hourly TransPennine Express to Manchester Airport.

Services are operated using Class 156, 158 and 185 DMUs.

From December 2024 timetable change, the majority of Transpennine Express services will begin and end their journeys at Redcar Central, leaving Saltburn with just three departures a day.[14]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
TerminusNorthern Trains
  TransPennine Express
  Redcar Central

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Body, p. 146
  2. ^ Binns, p. 31
  3. ^ Hunt, J. – Article in RAIL Magazine, Issue 610 (January 2009); p.49
  4. ^ a b Tees valley Unlimited (18 May 2010). "Tees Valley Metro: Phase 1 – Project Summary" (PDF). Stockton-on-Tess Borough Council.
  5. ^ Tees Valley Unlimited (April 2011). "Connecting the Tees Valley – Statement of Transport Ambition" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  6. ^ Lowes, Ron; Parker, Ian (18 September 2007). "Executive Report – Tees Valley Metro" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  7. ^ "Metro system hope for Tees Valley". 9 November 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  8. ^ "When the Tees Valley was set to get its own £220m metro system and what went wrong". The Northern Echo. 4 February 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Teesside and Darlington station improvements back on track". BBC News. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  10. ^ "Tees Valley authority unanimously backs £1bn transport plan". BBC News. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  11. ^ Saltburn station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 3 February 2017
  12. ^ Table 41 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  13. ^ "Train Times: North TransPennine". TransPennine Express. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  14. ^ Pritchard, Robert (October 2024). "Ardwick: keeping TPE's DMU fleet running". Today's Railways. No. 272. Sheffield: Platform 5. p. 23. ISSN 1475-9713.

Sources

[edit]
  • Binns, D. (1981), Railways Around Skipton, Wyvern Publications, Skipton.
  • Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides – Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1
[edit]
This station offers access to the Cleveland Way
Distance to path
Next station anticlockwise Kildale 8 miles
Next station clockwise Whitby 19 miles