From the Darlington & Stockton Times of September 10, 1966
FIFTY-FIVE years ago this week, the D&S Times published a picture showing the “last sad relics of the age of steam”. It showed a dismantled water pump which had once supplied a crane which had in turn fed the steam locomotives at Leyburn station.
But, said the D&S, all the steam-related apparatus at the station was being demolished. Not only was diesel replacing steam, but Leyburn station had just closed, apparently for good.
It had opened in November 1855 as the Northallerton to Bedale was extended 11 miles up Wensleydale. At Leyburn, the railway rested for a while, gathering steam for a further push up the dale to Hawes, and this 16 mile extension was completed in 1877.
In its heyday, five passenger trains ran along the line in each direction.
Sadly, its heyday was short lived, and the passenger service between Northallerton and Hawes was withdrawn on April 26, 1954. Leyburn station remained open for goods – largely milk and stone – until April 1964, and when that service was withdrawn, dismantling work began…
What one generation destroys, the next rebuilds, and Leyburn station was reopened on the Wensleydale heritage railway in May 2003.
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