Gilling and Pickering line

Gilling and Pickering line
Looking south eastwards across Riseborough Cutting
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Status	Closed
Locale	North Yorkshire
Termini	Gilling station (Parliamentary Junction) Thirsk and Malton line Pickering station York and North Midland Railway
Stations	5
Operation
Opened	1871–1875 (in stages)
Closed	1964 (completely)
Operator(s)	North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway British Rail
Technical
Line length	18 miles 48.7 chains (29.95 km)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed	20 miles per hour (32 km/h) Bishophouse Junction – Gilling 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) Gilling – Pickering

The Gilling and Pickering line (G&P) was a railway line that ran from Gilling to Pickering in North Yorkshire, England.

The line was opened in stages between 1871 and 1875 and linked up with the Thirsk and Malton line (T&M) at Gilling and the York and North Midland Railway at Pickering. The line connected the settlements of Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Nawton, Nunnington and Sinnington to others parts of the North Eastern Railway (NER) network. Closure to passengers came in 1953, with complete closure to all traffic in 1964.

The North Eastern Railway first submitted plans for a line through Ryedale to Helmsley in 1864. These were rejected and with other companies trying to push railways through the area (Ryedale Railway Company and the Leeds, North Yorkshire and Durham Railway (LNYD) being notable competitors) the NER felt compelled to act. The NER and the Ryedale companies submitted plans for their respective railways but both efforts were defeated in Parliament. Eventually the Ryedale and the NER reached an agreement whereby the NER would build their line to Pickering via Helmsley and the Ryedale would be compensated to the amount of £11,000 for the expenses it had occurred.

The Ryedale plan involved a line from Gilling northwards through Helmsley to Stokesley and Thornaby with a triangular junction at Harome where the eastern arm would go through Kirkbymoorside and bypass Pickering on a direct route to Scarborough. Additionally, it proposed a branch going north from Kirkbymoorside and pushing into Farndale. Both the northern arms of the Ryedale Railway proposals involved tunneling and a substantial number of overbridges (the Farndale branch alone was proposed to cross the River Dove 73 times in ten miles). In the end, the NER stuck by its own plan of 1864 with two minor adjustments, there would be no north to east curve at Cawton (where the T&M and the G&P met at Parliamentary Junction) and so no through running from Hovingham and the original intention was that the line would enter Pickering from the north to allow through running to Scarborough on what was to become the Forge Valley Line.