Of all the lines to Whitby...........

[glbotu]

I'm curious, as I haven't found much information on this, but why, of all the lines to Whitby, was the Esk Valley Railway the one chosen as the one to remain open. It would seem that the NYMR would be the more logical one or even potentially the one to Saltburn, given that half of it has remained open for Boulby potash mine anyway.

 

[ainsworth74]

I'm curious, as I haven't found much information on this, but why, of all the lines to Whitby, was the Esk Valley Railway the one chosen as the one to remain open. It would seem that the NYMR would be the more logical one or even potentially the one to Saltburn, given that half of it has remained open for Boulby potash mine anyway.

There is a reason that line no longer exists beyond Boulby and that's due to the geography and geology of the line beyond there. It was very very expensive to maintain due to erosion from the sea eating away at the cliffs upon which the line was predominately built beyond Boulby. It also had several tunnels and bridges which had been poorly built and required extensive maintenance. Plus the arrangements at Saltburn were not ideal (it either had to skip the station or reverse on the mainline and then reverse again once in the station to continue to Redcar/Middlesbrough). Whilst the direct line to Middlesbrough from Brotton also suffered from low ridership.

The line was not ideal and it is worth noting that its ridership was low (outside of summer weekends) and it was closed before the Beeching cuts.

 

[glbotu]

There is a reason that line no longer exists beyond Boulby and that's due to the geography and geology of the line beyond there. It was very very expensive to maintain due to erosion from the sea eating away at the cliffs upon which the line was predominately built beyond Boulby. It also had several tunnels and bridges which had been poorly built and required extensive maintenance. Plus the arrangements at Saltburn were not ideal (it either had to skip the station or reverse on the mainline and then reverse again once in the station to continue to Redcar/Middlesbrough). Whilst the direct line to Middlesbrough from Brotton also suffered from low ridership.

The line was not ideal and it is worth noting that its ridership was low (outside of summer weekends) and it was closed before the Beeching cuts.

I thought there was a chord here that allowed trains into Saltburn? It obviously doesn't exist now, but wouldn't it have in the past? (Not that this invalidates any of your other points, just curious)

 

[ainsworth74]

I thought there was a chord here that allowed trains into Saltburn? It obviously doesn't exist now, but wouldn't it have in the past? (Not that this invalidates any of your other points, just curious)

I don't think so, that wooded area is actually a small valley leading down to the embankment onto which the railway is built. So it would have required a pretty significant bridge. Plus I think there was an engine shed in that area as well.

 

[yorksrob]

School traffic was the original reason for the routes retention. The roads around the Esk valley can be particularly poor in winter.

That said, the line gets plenty of leisure traffic to Whitby from the North East as well.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Yes, that was the Esk Valley's saviour. One of the main considerations when allowing a closure was (is?) the availability of alternatives. Indeed, the Malton - Whitby route was replaced by an hourly bus service for an initial period (5 years IIRC) serving Pickering and Goathland (and Lockton - the closest practical location for Levisham). The Esk Valley serves many locations where the geography would have made substitute buses next to impossible - especially in the winter but really any time of year. Thus it was deemed there could be no practical substitute; thus it was kept open.

 

[edwin_m]

The feasibility of providing a substitute bus must explain many of the apparently illogical decisions on closures. Two examples are the retention of stations at the small village of Freshford and the even smaller one at Avoncliff when larger settlements with better road access lost theirs, and the closure of both routes to Tavistock but survival of that to Gunnislake.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Arram in East Yorkshire is still there (with but a token daily service nowadays) for much the same reason - in this case not because of hills or likely blockages, but more because it is at the end of a dead end road just short of two-miles long from the nearest through route. Running a bus to this tiny settlement was considered highly inefficient, when the Railway is already right there.

 

[yorksrob]

The feasibility of providing a substitute bus must explain many of the apparently illogical decisions on closures. Two examples are the retention of stations at the small village of Freshford and the even smaller one at Avoncliff when larger settlements with better road access lost theirs, and the closure of both routes to Tavistock but survival of that to Gunnislake.

Spot on. That, and the fact that the only grounds for contesting a closure were 'hardship'. This meant that you couldn't contest a closure on the grounds that the route was beneficial to the local economy, or that the population was about to expand with a new housing estate, for example.