Thirsk and Malton Line

Thirsk and Malton line
Gilling station looking east. The platforms were behind the Station House and the goods warehouse is on the right above the gate.
Overview
Type	Heavy Rail
Status	Closed
Locale	North Yorkshire
Termini	Sunbeck Junction and the East Coast Main Line Scarborough Road Junction Malton
Stations	8
Operation
Opened	19 May 1853
Closed	(Completely) October 1964
Operator(s)	North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway British Rail
Technical
Line length	22 miles 52 chains (36.5 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) Pilmoor – Gilling 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) Gilling – Malton

The Thirsk and Malton line was a railway line that ran from a triangular junction on what is now the East Coast Main Line and served 8 villages between Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, England. The line was built after a protracted process due to inefficiencies and financial problems suffered by the then York and North Midland Railway.

The line was opened in 1853 and connected with the Malton and Driffield Junction Railway at Scarborough Road Junction just east of Malton. The entire route was initially envisaged as a through route between Hull and Glasgow, but it mostly ended up serving the local communities on the line. Express workings regularly used it between Scarborough and Newcastle, but they were reduced to a slower speed than usual because of the lower speeds on the rural lines. The line closed to passengers between Gilling and Malton in December 1930. The section from the East Coast Main Line (ECML) to Gilling was retained after closure as the branch from Gilling to Pickering, North Yorkshire did not close to passengers until 1953 with complete closure coming in 1964.

Several companies were vying to build railways across Ryedale, but in 1846, the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway received assent from Parliament for the construction of a line towards Malton from what was the Great North of England Railway's route between York and Darlington. Several amalgamations later and construction was started in October 1851 with the Thirsk and Malton (T & M) Line opening in 1853 under the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. In 1854, the Y, N & B became a constituent part of the North Eastern Railway and the Thirsk and Malton railway became an asset of the NER.