A Brief History of the Line

 

On 6th October 1846, the York and North Midland Railway Company officially opened the line from Hull to Bridlington.  The occasion was marked by a special train of three engines and sixty six carriages travelling from Hull to Bridlington while crowds lined the route to watch.

The line from Seamer junction to Filey had opened the day before but it was another year before the 13 mile section between Filey and Bridlington opened due to the more difficult terrain which it had to pass through.

In 1854 due to amalgamation the line passed into the hands of the NER and in 1923 to the LNER.

The stations and other buildings on the line were designed by the YNMR architect George Townsend Andrews and many of these buildings survive today.

The map on the left shows that there were originally many more stations than there are now.  The ones in italics closed between 1950 and 1970. 

In 1947 the LNER built a short branch line to serve the holiday camp at Filey but this too closed in 1977.  The earthworks of the double facing junction can still be clearly seen between Hunmanby and Filey.

Between Bridlington and Seamer the line was partly reduced to single track in the 1970’s with the section between Filey and Hunmanby being retained as double.

​

 

Bridlington Station

 

Visitors to Bridlington today could be forgiven for wondering where platforms 1,2 and 3 are as the current three platforms are numbered 4, 5 and 6.

This is because Bridlington station has perhaps changed more than any other on the line.  The original GT Andrews designed station with overall roof covering platforms 1, 2 and 3 was demolished in 1983 and it is the 1912 extension designed and built by the NER that is now used.

​

Further Information

​

We recommend the book 'A History of the Hull to Scarborough Railway' by Addyman and Fawcett for a full and accurate history of the line.

​​

NER Tile maps

​

Between 1900 and 1910 the North Eastern railway company built tile maps into a number of their stations in the North of England.  The maps consisted of 64 glazed tiles and a further 8 half tiles surrounded by a border.  The maps show the NER railway system of c1900 and include a line from Beverley to North Frodingham, the proposed North Holderness Light Railway which was never built.

Around 25 of these maps were made and only 12 remain with 9 still in their original locations, two of these being the ones at Beverley and Scarborough stations.

In 2018 the Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership designed information panels for the tiled maps on our line.  The photo shows the map at Beverley station with its information panel in place.

 

Further information about them can be found at the North Eastern Tile Company Website

​