THORNTON
STATION
For 77 years. this cobbled roadside recess was the entrance to Thornton Station.
Before the arrival of tram services to Thornton in 1900. the railway station was the gateway to the outside world for local people.
The remains of a gated cart ramp which ran down to the yard's cattle and stone loading docks can be seen to your immediate left over the wall looking towards the school.
For some, it meant the start of their holidays, a visit to friends or relatives or, perhaps, a shopping trip. while for others it was where they began their regular journeys to work.
It was also the place where young Thornton men set off to fight on the battlefields of two World Wars. Some of them were destined never to return.
Thornton Station was opened by the Great Northern Railway Company in April 1878 and closed by British Railways in May 1955. Passengers reached the platforms via a covered footbridge from this entrance, before turning right to descend a wide staircase to the ticket office in the main station building.
The bridge and the station were lit by gas lamps and, for about 35 years from the 1920s, there was a Police Telephone box set against the recess wall about ten yards to the right of the entrance.
In its heyday, the station was a hive of activity and its staff comprised a Station Master ticket and parcels clerks, goods checkers, porters and signalmen.
The station entrance gates were finally sealed up in the late summer of 1955 but it was not until 23rd June 1963 that the access footbridge was demolished. Within a few weeks, the station buildings had also been consigned to history. The very last passenger train to enter the bulldozed remains of Thornton Station was a rail enthusiasts' diesel special that ran on Sunday, 6th September 1964.
|
Trains ran to Bradford, Halifax and Keighley, with connections at the main line stations for destinations further afield.
The normal timetable was supplemented during the summer holiday season with special excursions direct from Thornton to coastal resorts such as Scarborough, Bridlington, Filey, Cleethorpes, Skegness, Blackpool and Morecambe. These were very popular and even ran for several months after official closure of the station.
The neighbouring Thornton goods yard also generated a lot of business for the village economy and was a focal point for much local trade.
The yard site - now occupied by Thornton Primary School, which can be seen to the left - boasted a large storage warehouse, several coal merchants' huts, a weighbridge office and work sheds for stone dressers who transformed raw stone from local quarries into high quality paving and other building materials that were dispatched all over the country on freight trains from Thornton.
Timber, coal and animal feeds for local farms were the other main commodities handled by Thornton goods yard which closed ten years after the passenger station, in 1965. Track was lifted in 1966 and the goods warehouse stood empty until its demolition in 1971, leaving the magnificent Thornton Viaduct as the last major railway structure in the village.
The 20-arch viaduct stands 120 feet above Pinch Beck at its greatest height and is a superb feat of railway engineering which remains Thornton's most iconic landmark. Happily, public access to the viaduct was restored with opening of the Great Northern Trail in November 2008.
The text, artefacts and all illustrations used to create this display board are courtesy of Alan Whitaker, the son of Bernard Whitaker, who was Thornton's last Station Master.
In 1953 Thornton Station was awarded the second class prize in a competition for best kept station. The certificate was awarded and presented to the Station Master Bernard Whitaker
Special Dedication To James Albert Allen, Who Was One of The Founder Members of The Antiquarian Society in Thornton. James' Grandfather George Allen first arrived in Thornton working as a Porter on the Great Northern railway in 1885.
James always Campaigned to Renovate the Old Entrance to the Station and in Loving Memory his Sister Margaret Sutcliffe and Family Provided a Generous Donation of this Information Board so the history of the site may be shared!
|