A History of the Scarborough and Whitby Railway
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2022
- The Scarborough & Whitby Railway, hand built by the Victorians over 13 years and finally opened in1885.
After 80 years of operation it became one of the many
casualties of the Beeching Report of 1963 and closed in March 1965. Now, some 50 years on, much of this very
picturesque line is still passable but these days it is strictly under your own steam!
In this film the author Roland Vernon takes a look at its history and talks to some of the people who have made their homes along the line.
This was a beautiful film, made both carefully and with affection. It had particular resonance with me as I grew up alongside the old S&WR. I am familiar with the line history thanks to the work of Robin Lidster but this visual presentation really brought things alive. I particularly enjoyed the interviews with the owners of the Cloughton, Robin Hoods Bay and Hawsker stations. Lovely to see what has been made of the Cloughton station post closure, see some of the original fittings at Robin Hoods and hear from a former line worker at Hawsker. Thank-you ever so much for making this gem of a film. My father who is now in poor health really enjoyed watching it as a way of 'getting out of the house'.
Trains reversing into/out of Scarborough station needed either a pilot locomotive or were limited to 2 coaches with a brake compartment leading.
The original plan for line did not have connections with Scarborough and Whitby stations. The railway had it's own stations.
I used to live in Robin Hoods Bay and saw the last steam train depart on its way to Whitby.
Terribly sad, we have lost a very special line.
RHB was a fabulous place to live in the early 60's.
My dad was the village Bobby.
It could be bad on a warm summer's day in the early hours of the "rush hour", where damp greasy rails prevented the first DMU of the day could slip to a stop.
wheni was eight years old i went to scarborough from ormesby station on the old cliff line it was a diesel multi unit great views now ride along the track on bicycle good video feel sorry for beeching made a scape goat out of him.
Even the LNER found the 4 lines leading into Whitby a financial drain and wouldn't spend money on the line to reduce delays on summer Saturdays were many trains had to make double stops at stations on the coast line on both sides of Whitby. They planned at the work needed and the coatings but realised that the revenue from the line wouldn't justify the spending unlike the improvements they were looking at in the same periiod at Marske and Redcar. The coast route north of Whitby didn't even survive until the Beeching era.
The line north of Whitby had many iron viaducts, all within a stones throw of the high tide mark.
I was on the last train in 65. It was a diesel from Whitby.
Who on earth approved houses to be built at the foot of Larpool Viaduct? Having said that it would be a great garden feature .
The alum works of the Yorkshire coast is the birthplace of the British chemical industry. It came about when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic church and the Pope, who owned all the alum workings in Europe, banned the export of alum to the UK. Attempts were made in various parts of England to produce alum. All failed as the ricks were wring. In Yorkshire Thomas Chaloner notice that rock on his lands were similar to those of the Tolfa Hills, where the Pope had his alum workings. Chaloner persuaded a couple of the Pope's alum workers to abscond to England and bring with them the secret of converting shale to alum.
To make 1 ton of alum you needed 12 tons of shale and yo get that you need to remove 36 tons of other rock. The shale is burnt and then the ashes mixed with urine from Tyneside, Wearside and along the Yorkshire coast. To know when to collect the pure alum you put an egg into the liquid as it was heated. When the egg floated, it was time to collect the alum.