A very enjoyable but wet afternoon session spent at York station on the East Coast Mainline where we see plenty of services from London Northeastern Railway, Cross Country, Northern, Transpennine Express, Lumo and freight from GBRF.
York has had 3 different stations in its time with the third one being station we all know currently love. The first station in York was built in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway and was a simple wooden building located in the inner walls of the city. It only lasted for 2 years because in 1841 a second station was constructed which became known as York old Railway Station. Because there was a demand for through trains from Newcastle to London it meant that there was a growing necessity for a new station to be built outside of the city walls.
The current station that we all know and love was built in 1877 and was designed by Thomas Prosser and William Peachey. When it was first opened it had 13 platforms which at the time made it the largest station in the world. In 1909 new platforms were added to ease with the amount of passengers using the station along with the amount of trains coming and going, in 1938 there was a new footbridge installed and the station was completed resignaled.
During the second world war York station was at the centre of an extensive bombing campaign by the Luftwaffe in an attempt to cripple supplies and troops being transported across the country. The station was hit several times and on multiple occasions trains would have to be evacuated if they pulled into the station whilst the bombs were falling. Sadly there was a loss of life during the air raids.
In the later half of the 1980's the track going through and around the station was completely remodelled as part of the resignalling scheme that was taken place shortly before the ECML was electrified. This resulted in a lot of the bay platforms being closed and the track being removed which is why the station now looks like it does, in the middle of the station there was a line running in between the two long platforms under the roof but this was taken up when the electrification arrived.
My next station is Leeds.
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