Station Name: GUISBOROUGH

[Source: Ken Mell]

Date opened: 25.2.1854
Location: Bow Street with entrance opposite the junction with Whitby Lane
Company on opening: Middlesbrough and Guisbrough Railway
Date closed to passengers: 2.3.1964
Date closed completely: 31.8.1964
Company on closing: British Railways (Eastern Region)
Present state:

Demolished - site now occupied by offices, car park, coach park, new road and Health Centre. Traces of the boundary wall are the only evidence that a station was once here.

County: North Yorkshire
OS Grid Ref: NZ615158
Date of visit: 28.11.2007

Notes: Guisbrough opened to freight traffic on 11th November 1853 with passenger traffic starting on 25th February 1854. Initially the station was called Guisbrough but by the time it became part of the Stockton & Darlington Railway this had changed to Guisborough.

Facilities provided at Guisborough were: Single platform with trainshed,  station master’s house, warehouse, horse dock, engine shed, turntable, signal Cabin, replaced by Hutton Junction box which was renamed Guisborough on 16th March 1932, coal drops (18 cells of 13.5 to 15 tons capacity) and a weighbridge

In 1854 A private railway was constructed from the new Belmont Mines to join the Middlesbrough and Guisbrough railway just outside its terminus. This narrow gauge mine branch rose 200 feet above the town and included a self acting incline. Presumably the iron stone was transferred to railway wagons in the station goods yard. It is possible that this operation continued until 1886 when the Belmont mines were first abandoned. A bridge carrying the old Cleveland Railway over the line of the mine railway can still be seen.

1st November 1878 – A Middlesbrough – Guisborough – Saltburn service was introduced with trains using the Cleveland Railway route east of Guisborough. As Guisborough station was at the end of a short spur reversals were needed here. Middlesbrough bound trains reversing into the station and Saltburn bound trains reversed out. Auto trains had obvious advantages here as did the LNER and BR railcars in later years.

In c1887/8 42’11/2” turntable installed outside the engine shed. It was short lived being removed and sold for scrap in 1922 raising £33.

In 1901 63747 tickets issued during the year. Population of area served 5995.
Goods traffic (tons) despatched during 1923 is:  Timber (round) 852; Iron and steel 1508; Scrap iron and steel 482; Gas water 454; Barley 198; Creosote, tar and pitch 136; Cinder 224; Gravel and sand 171. Livestock was moved in 115 wagons. (L)

In 1933 Middlesbrough replaced Saltburn as the northern terminus for the Whitby and Scarborough trains which were then routed by and called at Guisborough. Middlesbrough – Guisborough trains ran at intervals. Special rules applied for propelling trains into and out of the terminus when longer conventional hauled trains bound to and from Whitby and Scarborough stopped here. It became permissible for seven coach trains to be propelled into and out of the station.

In 1960 Guisborough to Loftus closed for passengers with Guisborough reverting to being a terminus of the Middlesbrough – Guisborough branch. A morning train was extended to Newcastle.

Consent for closure was given on 27th November 1963 and the station closed to passengers on 2nd March 1964. Freight traffic remained but this too was withdrawn from 31st August 1964. A private siding remained in use for a short time after this date. The station was demolished and the site redeveloped in 1967.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MIDDLESBROUGH & GUISBOROUGH RAILWAY
The Stockton and Darlington railway, opened in 1825, had established good connections with the coalfields and the iron works at Witton Park in the west. It reached Middlesbrough in the east in 1830 and established a dock there. A new town was born which was to become a centre for iron making to support the industrial development which was gripping the country at the time.

In July 1850 good quality ironstone was discovered at Eston. Ironstone of similar quality was also discovered in large quantities at Guisborough, Skelton, Loftus and Skinningrove. Soon the mineral rights had been let by the major landowners and a decent railway system was needed to transport the stone to the blast furnaces which were being established on both banks of the Tees.

Mr Joseph Pease and his son Joseph Whitwell Pease who were influential in the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company had taken the mineral rights at Codhill, Hutton Lowcross  near Guisborough. A railway was needed to transport the ironstone to feed the developing furnaces in Middlesbrough. The Stockton and Darlington Railway saw this as an opportunity to establish a monopoly position in Cleveland whereby all ironstone being transported west out of the area would be along the proposed new railway or by the Eston branch which had been transporting ironstone since January 1851.

The prospectus for the Middlesbrough & Guisbrough Railway (sic) was published in November 1851. This proposed that the Stockton and Darlington Railway should provide locomotives and rolling stock and should control traffic. The initial plan was to terminate the railway outside the town of Guisbrough and it was clearly intended to be a line carrying minerals extracted from the south side of the valley to the blast furnaces in Middlesbrough.  The locals were not happy about a railway bearing the town’s name stopping short of the town so a petition was organised resulting in the proposed railway being deviated and extended to terminate in the town.

The Act of Parliament for construction of the line was passed in 1852 and it was opened, as a single line, for mineral traffic on 1st November 1853. The first passenger service, one daily journey each way was provided from 25th February 1854. The line was doubled soon after opening. It ran independently until 5th February 1857 when it became a constituent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and then in 1863 part of the North Eastern Railway. By the time the line became part of the S & D the spelling of Guisborough had changed.

The line branched from the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway, which had been opened in 1846, at Guisborough Junction, Middlesbrough. From here it took a generally southerly route, first calling at Ormesby.  Thereafter there was a steep climb of 1 in 44 for 1½ miles before entering Nunthorpe station.

A new halt, Gypsy Lane, to serve the expanding residential areas of Nunthorpe was opened between Ormesby and Nunthorpe on 3rd May 1976.

From Nunthorpe the line curved to take an easterly course to skirt the southern side of the valley between the Eston and Cleveland Hills.

The mining of iron stone around Hutton Lowcross by the Peases operated from 1852 but by 1867 the Codhill and Hutton mines had closed. The family had increased their holdings in the area and developed their use of the surface land. Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease who eventually became chairman of the North Eastern Railway commissioned the design of a large house, Hutton Hall, which was completed in 1867 and a private railway station, Hutton Gate, opened around the same time, was built close by for the use of the Pease family.

A short distance to the east and by the old road to Hutton, adjacent to High Cliff School, another station is said to have been in existence. In 1861 it was also known as Hutton Gate station and said to have been closed when the private Hutton Gate station was opened in 1865. However the censuses suggest that the old public station survived for some time afterwards and perhaps until the private Hutton Gate station was opened as a public station in 1904.

From here the line continued into Guisborough station, a terminus situated to the south of the town centre.

The line is still in use from Middlesbrough to Morton Junction by Whitby bound trains. The course of the railway between Morton Junction and the woodland east of Pinchinthorpe station is now a public walkway and can be easily accessed at the Guisborough Walkway Centre adjacent to the old Pinchinthorpe station. The trackbed between Hutton Gate station and Guisborough is also a public footpath and this has recently been extended along the old Cleveland Railway towards Slapewath.

The closure of the Guisborough to Nunthorpe Junction section of the line was rapid. Proposal for closure was made on 14th June 1963, a public enquiry was held in Middlesbrough on 23rd August 1963 and consent for closure was given on 27th November 1963. The date of closure was announced on 13th February 1964, the last passenger train  ran on 29th of the same month and the line was closed to passengers from 2nd March 1964. The goods service to Guisborough ceased on 31st August 1964. The remainder of the line from Middlesbrough is still open to Battersby and forms part of the Esk Valley Line. The 2.5 mile Guisborough Walkway follows the railway for much of its course.

Tickets from Michael Stewart - the spelling of Pinchingthorpe dates the ticket before 1920

To see other stations on the Middlesborough & Guisborough Railway click on the station name: Pinchingthorpe (1st Station), Pinchinthorpe (2nd Station), Hutton Gate, Hutton & Hutton Junction
Click here for branches of the Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway


Guisborough Station in the early 1960's
Photo by K. Linford




1914 1:2,500 OS map. Click here for a larger version.

Guisborough Station on 29th February 1964, the last day of public service.
Copyright p
hoto by Maurice Burns

Guisborough Station after closure
P
hoto by Mark Lloyd

Guisborough Station site along southern boundary. The road cuts across the original site. The low buildings in the right distance are at the junction of Bow Street and Whitby Lane and opposite the station entrance. The houses at the left are along Fountain Street and are parallel to the sites northern boundary. (December 2007)
P
hoto by Ken Mell

Click here for more pictures of Guisborough Station


 

 

 

[Source: Ken Mell]


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