Holidays and leisure travel on the Whitby and Pickering Railway

Today, as Eric or the 9F draws us along, threading through the succession of valley and moorland landscapes – past hikers, merrily waving families, holiday cottages, and historic country stations complete with camping coaches, before continuing down the Esk valley to the picturesque port of Whitby – the impression of our railway and its district is of classic holiday territory. Indeed, while for over a century the line provided day-to-day transport, both locally and long-distance to and from the coast, and served several quarries and the Grosmont iron works, the attractiveness and potential of the countryside through which it passes have long been appreciated. As early as 1835, thousands of day-trippers in the original horse-drawn rail coaches could enjoy the lineside scenery on the first completed section, from Whitby to the old Grosmont tunnel. This initial success set a Whitby lawyer, Henry Belcher, thinking, and the result is his book, The Scenery of the Whitby and Pickering Railway, which was published in 1836. In this beautifully illustrated guide, the author takes us on a railway journey all the way from Whitby to Pickering, detailing the features of the landscape and many other elements of interest.

Other early accounts of journeys along the line mention the charm of its surroundings; and of course in 1840, there was the well known excursion to Grosmont. However, in those days mass tourism was barely in its infancy, and much of its expansion later in the century centred on the development of coastal resorts. Indeed, once the Whitby and Pickering railway was connected to the wider network in 1845, via Rillington Junction on the newly built Scarborough line of George Hudson’s York and North Midland Railway, Hudson became involved in the development of Whitby itself, specifically the construction of hotels in the West Cliff area.

With the Rillington connection, through services between York and Whitby took about three hours; and some upgrading of the Whitby and Pickering line now began, including the construction of the double track tunnel at Grosmont, and new stations at Pickering and Whitby. In the 1850s, the now amalgamated North Eastern Railway used the line for regular “day pleasure trips” between Whitby and Scarborough. However, it was only from the 1860s, with the replacement of the original Beck Hole-Goathland incline route by the “deviation” adhesion railway that we know today, and the construction of the coast and Esk Valley lines, that the area acquired a comprehensive rail network.

In the 1890s and 1900s mass leisure travel really took off, with the NER strongly promoting travel to the coast, introducing all manner of material such as maps, hotel guides, special publications aimed at cyclists and anglers; and of course, the famous posters – including one of Whitby Abbey. To bring the visitors, King’s Cross to Scarborough and Whitby services were accelerated, and equipped with new coaching stock (the existing antiquated 4-wheel Whitby coaches were nicknamed “bathing machines”); and there were many special services to the coast, particularly in summer, from the North-East, the West Riding, and further afield. Other measures were a plethora of cheap fares, such as half-price Saturday rates; there were also holiday contract tickets, that we would now call rover tickets, as well as special “circular” tickets to enable a day’s touring itinerary. Even the picturesque presentation of NER stations was important, with a competition for the best floral display – Sleights being the winner in 1899.

There were some unsuccessful initiatives locally, such as an abortive plan for a railway to carry tourists up into Rosedale from the Pickering-Gilling line. And Beck Hole saw mixed fortunes. After the new deviation route was built, the old line to the foot of the Goathland incline remained open for freight; then a new station was opened in 1908, to accommodate summer afternoon trippers from Whitby arriving by autocar (a single coach, powered by a Fletcher tank engine). This service ended with the outbreak of the First World War, and was never reinstated.

Under the inter-war LNER, there were all sorts of interesting developments. For example, in 1933, a diesel-electric railcar, the Tyneside Venturer, ran circular day trips between Scarborough and Whitby. The same year saw the first outing of the Northern Belle, a touring train, which included the Yorkshire coast in its itinerary. But the most significant development in 1933 was the introduction in northern England of holiday camping coaches: these were old converted Great Northern six-wheelers. There were several in our area, on coastal and valley lines, including at Levisham and Goathland. They catered for six people, at a charge of £2 10s per week, high season. Camping coaches were very popular – in the hundreds, nationally - until the 1960s, when decline set in, there being none left on the Yorkshire coast by 1965.

There is no need to retell what has happened since the 1960s: closure, followed by the development of today’s heritage railway. Suffice it to say that nowadays our seven-coach heritage trains carry leisure travellers over the full scenic length of the line that started life as the Whitby and Pickering Railway. Furthermore, since the mid-1980s, traditionally-liveried green-and-cream camping coaches have once more featured as holiday accommodation at the idyllic – and very different - Levisham and Goathland stations. Our railway makes accessible to many thousands of visitors – without spoiling it, in the way that road access so often does - some glorious countryside; it conserves and brings vividly to life important historical elements, not only of the railway itself, but of the communities it served, and who served it. Finally, and as was the case in earlier times, it continues to play a significant role in the summer passenger traffic between interior and coast. I think we can say that today’s NYMR has realised and greatly surpassed Henry Belcher’s vision. I wonder, does his spirit head the ticket office queue every morning of steam running?