Selby railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Selby
code = SBY


manager = First TransPennine Express
locale = Selby
borough = Selby (district)
usage0405 = 0.395
usage0506 = 0.406
usage0607 = 0.443
platforms = 3
start = 1834

Selby railway station serves the town of Selby in North Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Hull-York Line 33 km (21 miles) south of York, Leeds-Hull Line 33 km (20¾ miles) east of Leeds and 50 km (31 miles) west of Hull.

Before the opening of the Selby diversion line in the early 1980s it was on the East Coast Main Line. It is managed by First TransPennine Express. The station is mentioned in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann.

It was opened in 1834 by the Leeds and Selby Railway. The original station at Selby consisted of a shed by the waterside in which passengers would alight the train and walk across the road to the connecting boat on the river. This site was just behind the current station site. Selby station was the first railway station to be built in Yorkshire, a fact commemorated by a plaque on the original building.

In 1840 an extension known as the Hull and Selby Railway was opened. The original terminus station of the Leeds & Selby railway was converted to goods use only and the current station was built. In order to cross the River Ouse a swing bridge was installed to the East of the station. Ships had (and still have) priority over railway traffic.

The Cawood, Wistow and Selby Light Railway (CW&SLR) was opened in 1898 linking the Leeds & Selby Railway to the village of Cawood. This line was predominantly used for agricultural traffic but also carried passengers until its closure in 1960.

Another branch was built to link Selby to the nearby port town of Goole. This branch ran via the villages of Barlow, Drax and Rawcliffe and closed in 1964.

The Selby Diversion

Until the early 1980s Selby was on the main East Coast Main Line. When the National Coal Board (NCB) began to exploit the Selby coalfield, a diversionary route for the ECML had to be built to avoid subsidence to the railway. This diversion took the ECML away from Selby, leaving it a much quieter station. The new route leaves the old at Temple Hirst to the south of Selby and rejoins it at Colton Junction several miles to the north of the town where the York-Leeds line meets the ECML. The diversion, which was financed by the NCB, had major advantages to the railway in that it removed a bottleneck from the ECML by avoiding the Selby Swing Bridge over the River Ouse and was the first purpose built section of high-speed railway in the UK having a design speed of 125mph. The route was subsequently converted into a cycle track.

ervices

To Hull - Monday to Saturdays there are generally two trains per hour to Hull. An hourly First TransPennine Express service and either a train from York or a First Hull Trains service from London Kings Cross.

To York - there is generally an hourly service daily north to York. Some services start/ terminate here, others run to and from Hull.

To Leeds - Monday to Saturdays there are two trains per hour to Leeds. One Northern Rail stopping service and one First TransPennine Express service to Manchester Piccadilly. Evenings and Sundays there is either an hourly/two-hourly First TransPennine Express to Leeds and Manchester.

To London - there are eight trains per day on weekdays in total to Doncaster and London Kings Cross, all but one (the "Hull Executive", which is run by National Express East Coast) provided by First Hull Trains. Northern also run two trains to Doncaster (one in the early morning and one in the evening). On Saturdays and Sundays there are six trains to and from London (one NXEC service and five from First Hull Trains).

External links

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

http://www.lner.info/article/selby/selby.shtml