Follow the plaques and find out more about

Pickering Station

Pickering Station Trail

NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS RAILWAY

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Pickering Station Trail

Pickering Station Trail will tell you more about the history of Pickering Station.

The places on the trail are marked by plaques with QR codes to enable you to access trail information on your smartphone. There are twenty plaques to find.

Ma

ap Artwork

Pickering Station The first railway station in

Pickering was opened in

1836 at the southern

terminus of the horse

drawn Whitby and

Pickering Railway. In 1845

the Whitby & Pickering

Railway was purchased by

the York and North Mid-

land Railway Company.

They extended the railway

south to join then new York to Scarborough railway line and rebuilt the whole

railway for trains hauled by steam locomotives rather than horses.

The new Pickering Station,

designed by the York

architect G.T. Andrews,

was completed in 1847. In

the next 100 years the sta-

tion saw little change until

the roof was demolished in

1952. It was closed by

British Railways in 1965

and the line south from

Pickering was lifted at this

time. In the early 1970s Pickering Urban District Council wished to demolish

the station and replace it with a car park. Opposition to this scheme led to a

public enquiry being held which resulted in the station being saved. The

station was re-opened by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 1975. The

station as you see it today was extensively restored between 2000 and 2011

with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The station buildings were

refurbished, the overall roof replaced, and a new learning centre and visitor

interpretation centre added to the rear of platform 2.

These scales outside the

old parcels office were

used to weigh things being

carried by rail because the

railway charged by weight.

It is marked in pounds and

quarters – do you know

what these are in modern

weights? The original

scales were removed

when the station closed.

The set of scales you are looking at were rescued from Malton Station. A fur-

ther set can be seen at the north end of platform 1.

This large grey van was

built by the North Eastern

Railway in 1902. It was

originally used in a special

railway train that delivered

essential supplies to each

station. It carried nearly

everything that was

needed to run a station

such as paraffin for the

lamps, spare parts of all

sorts, ropes, paper, labels and lots and lots of other small items.

Weighing Scales

NER Stores Van

Old Railway Track A small section of the

original track from the

horse drawn Whitby and

Pickering Railway opened

in 1836 is displayed here. It

uses wrought iron rails laid

on stone sleeper blocks

and is called “Fish Belly

Rail” because of the curved

shape of its bottom edge.

Look at the track we use

today, behind the fence, to see how different it is.

This memorial

commemorates the many

railway men who lost their

life serving their country on

the railways in war time.

War Memorial

End of the Line Although the track now

ends here, until 1965 the

railway carried on through

Pickering to join the York

to Scarborough Railway

line, about 6 miles south of

here at Rillington junction,

just east of Malton. Can

you see any remains of the

old railway and its

buildings in Pickering?

Where two railway tracks

join there is a set of points.

These allow the engine to

change over from one

track to the other. When a

train is in the station you

may be able to see the

crew changing the points

when the engine is taken

off and run around the

train.

Points

Signal Box This small wooden signal

box originally stood at

Marishes Road on the line

between Pickering and

Malton. It was rescued by

volunteers from the North

Yorkshire Moors Railway in

1969 and rebuilt here in

2013. Although it has been

fitted out as a working

signal box, it is now used

for explaining and demonstrating the techniques of railway signalling.

The Reussner Learning

Centre was built in 2009 on

a narrow strip of land

behind the main station

wall. It is used for training,

educational activities and

meetings. It also houses the

Railway’s Archive.

The Learning Centre

W. H. Smith Kiosk This is a replica of a typical

W H Smith station kiosk.

Between 1908 and 1955

there was a larger book

stall and kiosk on platform 1

which was situated next to

the current lavatories.

The glazed canopy over the

picnic area was once part

of a much larger structure

originally built for Church

Fenton Station near York in

1904. It was demolished in

1990, and after a long

period in store, was rebuilt

at Pickering in 2011.

Picnic Area

Visitor Centre The Yorventure Visitor

Centre was opened in 2010

and houses a display that

gives an introduction to the

Railway and its history. The

Centre is in a late 19th

century building which

originally housed a

stationery engine that

pumped water out of

Pickering Beck to a storage

tank. It was then used for filling steam locomotives. You can still see the big

pipe in the Beck.

The modern buildings at

the end of the platform are

used for the maintenance

and restoration of our

carriage and wagon fleet.

They were built in 1984 with

further extensions added in

1996 and 2005. In 2008

the new Atkins Building

was added at the north end

of the site, this is used for

the restoration of our historic coaches.

Carriage Shed

Pickering Beck / Mill At the north end, both plat-

forms cross part of

Pickering Beck on a bridge.

The beck splits into two

streams about 800m north

of the station and these re-

join just downstream of this

bridge. The part of the

Beck that flows under the

railway is the end of the mill

race that carries the water

that once powered Pickering’s High Mill. Can you see the old mill buildings

north of the station?

The green cast iron

footbridge over the railway

tracks, typical of many built

by the North Eastern

Railway, was rescued from

Monkwearmouth in the late

1980s. It was made

redundant by the building

of the Tyneside Metro,

moved to Pickering and

rebuilt in 1991.

Footbridge

Fish Store There is wooden lean-to

building is at the back of

the main station buildings

near the footbridge that

was built to store fish. It

has slatted walls for

ventilation and a sink and

shelves for cleaning and

storing the fish which was

brought in by rail and then

sold in Pickering.

The large roof over the

railway tracks that you can

see now is a replica of the

original 1847 one. The

original roof was removed

in 1952 as it was worn out.

This left the station with no

roof at all over the

platforms and tracks. The

new roof was completed in

2011 to the same design as

the original one with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and many other

donations.

Overall Roof

Whitby Building The long wooden building

on platform 1 was originally

situated at the south end of

Whitby Town Station. It

was moved to Pickering

and rebuilt here in 1993. It

is now used for offices and

stores.

The small wooden building

now used by station staff

was originally used as a

level crossing keeper’s

cabin at Gilling East

Station, south of Helmsley.

It was moved here in 2001.

Gilling Building

Water Columns The green columns at the

north end of the platform

are for filling our steam

engines up with water.

You can sometimes see

them being used when the

train is in the station. Can

you see the mistake on the

column at the end of

platform 2?