York Railway Station

York railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom, serving the city of York.
Located 188 miles, or if you prefer, 303 KM north of London King’s Cross, situated between Doncaster to the south and Thirsk to the north.
As of June 2018 the station is operated by London North Eastern Railway.(LNER)
Despite the small size of the city, York is one of the most important railway stations on the British railway network because of its role as a key railway junction located approximately halfway between London — the capital of England, and Edinburgh — the capital of Scotland.
It is a few miles north of the point at which it divides, and routes via Leeds leave the East Coast Main Line. This junction was historically a major site for rolling stock manufacture, maintenance and repair.
The first York railway station was a temporary wooden structure, situated on Queen Street, outside the walls of the city, which opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway.
It was succeeded in 1841 by what is now the “York old” railway station, built at the junction of Tanner Row and Station Rise inside the city walls.
It opened on the 4th of January 1841. Part of the station design was the Neo-Tudor arch built where the walls were breached to allow trains access the station.
With the rapid increase in the number of new railway lines during “railway mania”, York Station, originally a terminus, became part of the route from London to Newcastle and beyond.
Through-trains calling at York had to reverse out of the station to continue their journeys, causing much inconvenience to both railway staff and passengers.
Therefore a new through station:- the present York railway station outside the city walls – was planned and eventually built.
The station took 3 years to construct and was the largest in Britain, confirming the city’s status at the heart of the network.
The third, and present, station was opened by the North Eastern Railway on 25th of June 1877 at 5.30am with the first train left the new station, bound for Scarborough
It had 13 platforms and was at that time the largest in the world. As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel, now The Principal York was opened in 1878.
In 1909 new platforms were added, and in 1938 the current footbridge was built and the station re-signalled.
The building was heavily bombed during the Second World War.
On the 29 April 1942, 800 passengers had to be evacuated from a King’s Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid. On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman who died after returning to his burning office to collect his first aid kit.
A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station.
The track layout through and around the station was re-modelled once again in 1988 as part of another re-signalling scheme that was carried out prior to the electrification of the East Coast Mainline.
This resulted in several bay platforms on the eastern side being taken out of service and their tracks removed.
At the same time, a new signalling centre, know as “York Integrated Electronic Control Centre” was commissioned on the western side of the station to control the new layout and also taking over the function of several other signal boxes on the main line.
The York Integrated Electronic Control Centre now supervises the main line from Temple Hirst, near Doncaster through to Northallerton, along with sections of the various routes branching from it.
Since 2002 it further assumed responsibility for the control area of the former power box at Leeds, and signals trains as far away as Gargrave and Morley.
Most importantly, the former motive power depot and goods station now houses the National Railway Museum. This is well worth a visit, along with the beautiful walled city of York.
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