On the East Coast main line, several hundred yards north-east of Tollerton village where Station Road becomes Sykes Lane.
1st site: immediately south-east of Sykes Lane bridge. 2nd site: immediately north-west of Sykes Lane bridge.

British Rail (North Eastern Region)

Notes: Tollerton station was on the East Coast main line (ECML) 9¾ miles north-west of York. It is possible that it opened with the line, but the earliest passenger timetables make no reference to it. The original site was immediately south of Sykes Lane crossing, about half-a-mile north-east of the village of Tollerton. The route was built with two railway tracks and there were two facing platforms. The station house and main passenger facilities were on the down (Darlington-bound) platform, towards its north-western end; in common with a number of other stations built or influenced by J T Andrews, there was a bay window on the platform elevation. Sidings were placed behind, and south-east, of the up platform. The signal box was immediately north-west of the road crossing, on the down side of the tracks. The passenger service shown in the May 1849 timetable consisted of three departures in each direction on weekdays and two on Sundays. By 1863 the service had increased to four up and down departures, as seen in the table below, and two Sunday trains in each direction.

In 1853 a branch opened from the main line at Pilmoor, north-west of Tollerton, to Gilling and Malton, the passenger services operating from Thirsk, also on the main line beyond Pilmoor. In 1871 a further branch opened, linking Gilling, Helmsley, Kirbymoorside and Pickering, and train services on this route ran from York, through Tollerton, and left the main line at

§ Train ex-Pickering    ¶ Train ex-Gilling

The heavily-used main line suffered from congestion, and most of the stretch between York and Darlington was quadrupled in stages over a period of almost sixty years. The first widening project was enabled by an Act of 1894 permitting the North Eastern Railway to quadruple from north of Beningbrough, through Tollerton, to a point south of Alne. This operation included the demolition of Tollerton station, south of Sykes Lane, and its replacement with a new (2nd) station immediately north-west of the road, which now crossed the line by a bridge. The new station had two platforms, with a wide gap between them as a result of being on the outer two tracks (the up and down slow lines). The former station building survived, though apparently losing its bay to allow space for the down slow track. Construction of the new station was authorised in 1899, including a house for the stationmaster and a cottage. The most basic of buildings were constructed on the platforms. These were small single-storey brick structures with a ridged roof and a small mock-Tudor central gable to add some weak, but fashionable, Arts and Crafts decoration. The sidings on the up side, beyond the road bridge, continued to be used, but an additional siding was provided as a bay set into the north-west end of the down platform. The signal box north-west of the road was replaced with one immediately south-east, again on the down side.

NER records show that in 1911 about 1,300 people were served by Tollerton station and that 10,740 tickets were issued: a modest total for the days before motor bus competition emerged. In 1913 the station was handling coal, hay and clover, potatoes and livestock. A goods shed had been provided at the north-western end of the old sidings, at the foot of the road embankment, probably when the quadrupling took place. No crane was installed in the goods yard.

Tollerton station never enjoyed an intensive train service, and, as elsewhere in Britain, competition from road motor transport was felt increasingly during the inter-war years. In 1923 the NER became part of the London & North Eastern Railway, and this company was prepared to discontinue unprofitable train services, as they demonstrated in north-east England, where

§ Train ex-Pickering

When Nationalisation of British Railways took place on 1 January1948 Tollerton became part of the North Eastern Region. The station was no longer served by trains on Sundays – these had ceased by summer 1943 – and the weekday service was minimal, as indicated in the summer 1952 table below.

§ Train ex-Pickering

On 2 February 1953 the York – Helmsley – Pickering passenger train service ceased, leaving Tollerton with one morning train in each direction: of no value whatever for an outward and return trip in the same day.

In 1958-9 a purge of minor stations took place on the main line between London and Berwick, removing Tollerton’s neighbours of Beningbrough, Alne, Raskelf, Pilmoor, Sessay, Otterington, Danby Wiske, and Cowton in 1958. Why Tollerton survived is unclear. By 4 August 1959 Tollerton’s train service was halved, leaving the one northbound morning train. The primary purpose of this solitary call was probably for delivery of parcels. The Transport Users’ Consultative Committee (TUCC) report in July 1965 noted that in addition to the advertised northbound passenger train a southbound evening parcels train called at Tollerton station.

The quaint and little-used station at Tollerton was joined in January 1961 by a new signal box of striking modern design, placed 300yd south-east on the up side of the tracks beside the entrance to the station’s sidings. The box was part of a signalling upgrade of the ECML following the completion of the quadrupling projects in 1959, and it controlled 12 route miles. It

By the 1960s Tollerton station was an antiquity, still lit by oil lanterns. Only the hand-painted running-in nameboards in dull tangerine BR(NE) livery were evidence that it might still be open. BR totem name signs were never installed. Despite its paltry train service the station continued to be staffed. However Tollerton was far from being the only station on the ECML that time forgot: within London the stations at Wood Green, New Southgate and Oakleigh Park, as well as Knebworth and Stevenage on the approaches to the capital, remained gas-lit until the early 1970s.

It came as no surprise that the Reshaping of British Railways (‘Beeching’) report of March 1963 earmarked Tollerton for closure, but there was a surprising delay in the publication of closure proposals until 13 March 1965. In the meantime a traffic survey revealed that in the week ending 11 July 1964 only one passenger joined a train and one alighted at Tollerton. A further survey in the week ending 24 October 1964 found that not a single passenger used Tollerton station.

The TUCC report presented to Tom Fraser, Minister of Transport, on 22 July 1965 stated that no objections to closure had been received from any passenger who used Tollerton station, but a Mr Slinger, who dispatched honey bees from the station, lodged a protest. A Londoner objected to the closure of Tollerton (as well as Gateshead West) on the grounds that if he sent in an objection an enquiry would have to take place: his complaint could not be considered as he was a week late in submitting his letter! On 19 August 1965 the Minister gave consent to the closure. A short time later, on 6 September Tollerton ceased to handle goods traffic, and on 1 November 1965 the station closed to passengers, the final train having called on 30 October.

The platforms and buildings were soon demolished, and today there is little evidence of the site of the 2nd station, although the approach track from the south-west is discernible. However, the sidings to the south-east of the road bridge, behind the site of the earlier station’s up platform, remain in situ.

FURTHER NOTES ON THE YORK – DARLINGTON EAST COAST MAIN LINE

The section of the London (King’s Cross) – Newcastle – Edinburgh main line between York and Darlington was built by the Great North of England Railway (GNE). The project was envisaged by Joseph Pease, a prominent figure in the Stockton & Darlington (S&D) Railway’s development, who saw it as a means of connecting Tyneside and Darlington with the proposed

See other ECML stations:Tweedmouth, Scremerston, Goswick, Beal, Smeafield, Crag Mill, Belford, Lucker,
Newham, Fallodon, Christon Bank, Little Mill,
Longhoughton, Lesbury, Warkworth, Longhirst, Morpeth, Stannington, Plessey, Annitsford (1st), Annitsford (2nd), Killingworth, Forest Hall, Heaton (2nd), Heaton (1st), Durham, Croft Spa, Eryholme Otterington & Alne