Beckhole railway station

Beckhole railway station was a shortlived station on part of the original Whitby and Pickering Railway line. It served the village of Beck Hole and surrounding beauty spots.

The original station was presumably located at the bottom of the Beckhole Incline, although in W&P days there would have been little need for any station buildings. When the York and North Midland Railway converted the horse worked W&P to a conventional double track steam railway, with services to Whitby starting in 1847, there is little evidence of much more in the way of station buildings or platforms although the Y&NM did build two cottages and a single track engine shed at Beckhole. The main evidence for Beckhole being a 'station' is the record of Beckhole having at least two Station Masters. However by 1859 Beckhole must have had a 'passenger shed' since a minute of the NER's Locomotive Committee for 27 May 1859 records a decision to partition off part of it to form a 'small Goods Warehouse'.

The original station would have closed, for passengers at least, when the NER opened its 'deviation' line to avoid the Beckhole Incline in 1865. All services south of Beckhole stopped at that date although the Incline was retained intact until 1868, presumably just in case of problems with the new earthworks on the deviation line. The line from Deviation Junction at Grosmont to Beckhole remained open for goods, serving various mines and quarries.

The second station at Beckhole was opened by the NER in 1908 and comprised a single platform and a tiled wooden waiting shed at ground level just before the platform at the village end of the station.

The train service to Beckhole consisted entirely of single or twin Autocar sets; these were an adapted Fletcher BTP 0-4-4 tank engine coupled to a carriage with a driving compartment at the far end (twin sets had the engine in between two carriages). The driver in the end of the carriage was able to control the engines regulator and reverser by means of rods running along under the carriage and coupled to the locomotive by a form of universal joint. The driver also had full control of the Westinghouse air brake, a hand brake, a whistle (worked off the brake high pressure line) and a speaking tube connected back to the fireman on the engine.

The first Autocars were converted clerestory eight compartment full thirds but later the NER built some elliptic roofed Autocars, both types were seen at Beckhole, sometimes at the same time in a twin Autocar set.

The Autocar service to Beckhole ran from Whitby in the summer months only, there were no staff at Beckhole, paper tickets were issued on the train, not easy with non-corridor vehicles.

The service to Beckhole lasted until the start of the First World War, closing in 1914. After the war the service was not restarted and Beckhole station gradually deteriorated, presumably when all possibility of a resumption of the service had gone, the platform and waiting shed were removed. There are photographs showing a single track, weed ridden with no sign of the station except for a solitary NER cast iron Tresspass Notice.

The branch to Beckhole was gradually cut back as the sidings it served closed down, until only a stub was left serving the isolated hamlet of Esk Valley, a weekly goods train brought in their provisions. Eventually the North Riding of Yorkshire County Council built a road into the hamlet, ironically using the track of a disused mineral incline. Thus the last bit of the Beckhole branch closed in 1952.

References

Citation
title = North Eastern Railway Company, Survey of Cottages (Whitby branch extract)
publisher = North Eastern Railway Company (The Nation Archives Ref. RAIL 527/1125)
year = 1862
date = 1862

Citation
title = North Eastern Railway Company, Locomotive Committee Minute Book Vol.3
publisher = North Eastern Railway Company (The Nation Archives Ref. RAIL 527/25)
year = 1859
date = 1858 to 1860

Citation
title = North Eastern Railway Company, Locomotive Committee Minute Book Vol.6
publisher = North Eastern Railway Company (The Nation Archives Ref. RAIL 527/28)
year = 1868
date = 16 February 1866 to 18 December 1868

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