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Eryholme-Richmond branch line

Eryholme–Richmond branch line
Moulton Scorton Tackbed 1.jpg
Nature taking over the trackbed between Moulton End and Scorton, May 2007
Overview
Type Heavy rail
Status Closed
Locale North Yorkshire
Termini Eryholme railway station
Richmond railway station
Operation
Opened 10 September 1846
Closed 3 March 1969 (to passengers) 1970 for goods
Operator(s)

York and Newcastle Railway to 1854, North Eastern Railway 1854–1923, London and North Eastern Railway 1923–1948,

British Railways (N.E region) 1948 to closure
Technical
Line length 9 miles 62 chains
Number of tracks Double
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Eryholme-Richmond branch line
East Coast Main Line
Darlington Bank Top
Croft Spa
Eryholme
East Coast Main Line
Moulton
Scorton
A1 road
Catterick Bridge
(Fort Bridge)
Brompton Road Halt
Richmond
Colburn Sidings
Catterick Camp
Power House

York and Newcastle Railway to 1854, North Eastern Railway 1854–1923, London and North Eastern Railway 1923–1948,

The Eryholme–Richmond branch line was opened in 1846 by the York and Newcastle Railway Company. The original section of the line ran from between a point in between Darlington and Northallerton on what is now the East Coast Main Line and the terminus at Richmond railway station.

A proposal for the branch was first mooted in 1825 and in 1836, the idea of serving Swaledale was again raised when notifications were placed in the local newspapers for the Richmond and Cleveland Railway. The branch was formally opened on the 10 September 1846 and ran from what was known originally as Dalton Junction, with the NER renaming the junction Eryholme in 1901, despite Eryholme being further away from there than Dalton was.

The railway was intended to progress further up the valley to Reeth with a view to moving quarried products out of the dale. The proposal even gained parliamentary approval in 1869, but due to local support not being forthcoming, the NER never even started the venture. This venture was revisited in 1912 with a Light Railway Order being granted for the Swaledale Light Railway Company, but again this faltered and was never constructed.

When trains arrived at the Richmond terminus, the procedure was to allow the passengers to alight from the train and the loco would propel the carriages out of the station and run-round the train as there was no loco release facility. When troop trains were operating, a loco would be outbased at Richmond to attach to the rear of a terminating service. This would facilitate a quick turnaround time for departure and the incoming loco could then wait in the sidings to repeat the changeover with the next terminating service. Despite the existence of the Catterick branch, most troop trains would run into Richmond and servicemen and women would be bussed into the camp.


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