Selby's 1834 Railway Station

A short walk from Selby station to visit one of the best surviving early railway stations.

SELBY

The first mainline railway route in Yorkshire was the Leeds and Selby Railway which opened in 1834. The plan had always been for the line to continue to Hull, in fact the Leeds and Hull Railroad Co was formed in 1824, before the concept of connecting distant cities with railway lines had been practically demonstrated by the Stockton & Darlington. The inspiration being the Middleton colliery railway in Leeds that had been running steam trains since 1812, it is believed that the line's engineer John Blenkinsop was an anonymous correspondent in the letters of the Leeds Mercury (forerunner to the Yorkshire Post) calling for the line to be built.

The scaled down Selby scheme involved trains meeting boats for Hull on a wharf next to the passenger terminus and goods sheds on Ousegate. The railway offered day trips to Hull by train and boat but the railway was primarily aimed at freight traffic between the mines and mills of West Yorkshire and the port at Hull. Coal from the Leeds and Garforth areas could also be loaded in to boats to supply to Hull, the mine owners at Garforth were shareholders in the railway.

Below - Advert for a Railway and Steam Packet trip to Hull from the lner.info page.

With the Leeds to Selby stretch in operation the capital was soon raised to push on to Hull and in 1840 a new station opened alongside the original station leading to a railway bridge over the River Ouse and onwards to Hull. The original terminus was therefore fairly short lived as a terminus station and was subsequently used entirely for goods traffic and as such was still rail connected in to the late 20th Century, being sold by British Railways and continuing in private ownership with Viking Shipping. Viking Shipping still use the former goods shed but the site is no longer rail connected. It is however one of the best preserved stations from the very early days of railways. More information about the site can be found on the Disused Stations website and on lner.info.

Being located alongside the passenger station it is just a short walk from the current railway station.

1851 Map

Google Map

Below - Map of the original terminus station site from the Disused Stations page. The labels aren't very clear but the passenger lines were the two lines in the centre that didn't continue on to the wharf (passengers would cross the road for the ferry). The station didn't have platforms, passengers would have to step up and down to the carriages from track level. The pairs of track either side of the passenger track were for goods and continued through large doors in the front of the building to the wharf. The tracks further to the left (which is to the east as this map is upside down with North to the bottom) handled the coal traffic.

Below - The front of the building on Ousegate. The doors of the original goods lines to the wharf are on either side. The two single doors in the centre (one of which is bricked up) were added after the passenger trains moved to the new station. Above the doors the lintels of four bricked up windows can be seen where the passenger part of the station was. 

Below - The road entrance to the former goods yard.

Below - The east side of the buildings. A buffer stop from the former sidings has been retained in the car park.

Below - An information plaque on the front of the former station.

Below - The former wharf, now buried under vegetation (even in winter). The remains of the quays can be seen from the river side and from passing trains crossing the river on the bridge.

Below - The eastern end of the wharves. The wharf also continued between the Ouse and Ousegate up to the road bridge over the river. A railway line ran along the wharf accessed by wagon turntables so that wagons could be positioned close to the boats they were intended for. The area of wharf between the rail and road bridges has since been built on.

Below - The west side of the building seen from the Leeds bound platform of the later through station.

Below - The modern Selby station which once had through lines in the centre as the station was on the East Coast Main Line until it was diverted west of Selby to avoid coal mining subsidence in the Selby area.

I have also visited the site of Leeds Marsh Lane station (just a gate post of the original terminus station there) on my look at Leeds Stations and also the Aberford Fly Line that connected mines around Garforth. On an explore of Hull's Humber Dock and Victoria Dock I visited the site of the 1840 Hull Manor Street station. I've also visited the other notable surviving 1830s railway station Manchester Liverpool Road in my Manchester Stations explore.