18" Military Railway on the Ouse in York

Starting Point - Lendal Bridge, Yorks. Finish Point - Millenium Bridge, York. Distance 1.25 Miles

This is a short walk along the River Ouse as it passes through York. I particularly wanted to visit the remnants of a narrow gauge military railway that took supplies from boats on the river in to an Ordnance Depot, though with a city with as much history as York there were a few interesting sights along the way.

Current Google map

1909 Map

An obvious place to start is the city walls. York has an excellent set of city walls, although they got pierced by the coming of the railways and the improvements of roads in the Victorian age, the controversy of those acts lead to increasing support for the preservation of the walls. Much of the walls are walkable, details can be found here.

At what was once the north east edge of the city there are a couple of towers alongside Lendal Bridge, these are Lendal Tower and the North Street Postern Tower. A chain could be raised across the river at this point to prevent boats entering the city.

The above old map shows a dotted line where the Roman walls were lost to medieval development, it also shows the likely spot for the Roman bridge. Roman York (Eboracum) would have followed a grid pattern with Stonegate and Petergate following the course of the principle roads through the city today, hence the likely position of the bridge. The mish mash of other roads seen on the maps being from the much more un-planed developments of the Viking and medieval ages.

1936 Map

Below - This view of Queen's Staith is a reminder of the industrial use of the river through the city. The map above shows how the bank of the river was once lined with warehouses. 

Below - At the junction of the River Ouse and the River Foss an information board provides details of some of the sights along the rivers through York.

At the junction of the Foss and the Ouse a lifting bridge took the riverside footpath over the Foss. Shown on the above map as the Blue Bridge.

Below - The Blue Bridge today.

Where the rivers meet there were once a couple of canons from the Crimean war serving as a memorial, though these were sadly scrapped in the World War 2 scrap metal drive.

Below - Just up the River Foss from the Blue Bridge is the Foss Barrage. The River Ouse is notorious for flooding through York and this barrier prevents flood waters back filling the Foss and flooding properties around it.

Below - The former Castle Mills Wharf at the foot of York Castle. The Foss continued to be navigable beyond this point, notably serving York's confectionery industry.

Below - Returning to the Ouse and the 18th Century Pickering Well. Claimed to have been a natural remedy for eye conditions. Behind the iron railings the well can be seen and the green water probably doesn't have many health benefits these days.

Reaching the site of the Ordnance depot, the original walls of the complex can be seen. The bricked up entrance from the riverside staith now blends in well with the original wall. A narrow gauge (18 inch gauge line) ran in to the site and to the riverside where there was a run round loop and a crane. Looking at the maps there doesn't seem to be a headshunt off the run round loop. The wagons were probably moved around by hand or possibly by horse so the loop would have been for re-ordering the wagons to get them to closer to the crane rather than running an engine round. It looks as though a wagon turntable may have been used rather than a point at the far end of the loop. Though the river bank has been rebuilt and the crane has gone the tracks remain. In 2020 the local papers made a story of the tracks reappearing after flooding, though the stories were exaggerated, the line wasn't long lost as suggested. The Ouse regularly floods and the tracks have been covered with silt and reappeared at intervals over the years.

This page by Andrew Grantham gives an account of the tracks in 2003.

Below - bricked up entrance to the former ordnance depot.

Below - Plaque on the wall describing the railway.

Below - Point and surviving end of the loop on the river front. In the background the Millennium Bridge can be seen, giving the option of returning via Rowntree Park.

Below - The former riverfront staith where a crane would have transferred supplies from the "Powder Boat" on to narrow gauge wagons to be taken in to the depot. A passing loop is also shown on the map halfway along the line within the depot. Two other stretches of line within the depot can be seen on the map, as these aren't connected they may have been used for moving materials within the site or may have been for rail mounted cranes. The staith is now occupied by the Two Hoots Ice Cream Boat.

In the Ordnance Depot site itself many of the original buildings survive in industrial and retail use, there are no further traces of the railway lines. Perhaps one day if some of the car parking spaces are dug up other remnants might reappear?