EVENING GAZETTE, Saturday, March 2 1957

STOKESLEY RAILWAY LINE'S CENTENARY

Today, the 11½ mile section of railway line from Picton to Stokesley celebrates its centenary.

It originally formed part pf the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway, whose complete line was eventually opened to Grosmont in 1865, so linking Scarborough and Whitby with Tees-side.

The North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway was authorised by Parliament in 1854, after the Bill for a rival scheme had been thrown out in the same session, which also marked the passing of the act for the amalgamation of several companies to form the powerful North Eastern Railway.

The rejected Bill had sought powers for a line direct from Thornaby, then called South Stockton, running south-eastwards to Stokesley, with two branches. The first chairman of the successful company was Lord de L'Isle of Dudley.

Work on the new line began at Picton on the Leeds-Hartlepool line in 1855, and in the same year a branch was authorised from Potto to the ironstone mines at Whorlton belonging to the Marquis of Ailesbury.

This branch was opened on the same day as the line to Stokesley. Competition for the ironstone traffic was still rife, and in this year there was again another proposal for a direct line from Stockton.

The Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway, running a few miles to the north of the North Yorkshire and Cleveland, opened in 1854 to bring the iron stone from that part of Cleveland to the furnaces of Tees-side. It came to an agreement with the new company for a connecting branch between their two lines, running from Nunthorpe through Ayton to Battersby. The line from Stokesley reached this last place in 1858.

Also from Battersby the Rosedale branch was later to be built, climbing the northern edge of the Cleveland Hills by the Ingleby Incline on a gradient of 1 in 4½, and then pursuing its lonely, and often snowbound way south-east-wards across the moors

East of Battersby, the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway served the villages of the Esk Valley well and, besides carrying a share of the heavy summer traffic between Tees-side and Whitby, it still has a popular local service throughout the year.

Under plans announced by the North Eastern Region, these services are due to be operated by diesel railcars in 1958.

The two mineral lines to Rosedale and Whorlton were closed and dismantled between the wars. With the scattered villages and inconveniently situated stations, passenger traffic over the western section of the line fell off until it was not sufficient to justify its retention. The local passenger trains were finally withdrawn in June 1954.

During the Second World War, one of the two tracks on this section was converted into a store for wagons, which at times may still be seen stretching in long lines over much of the 11½ miles.

With the train service over the line reduced to the daily freight only, proposals have been made for a narrow road bridge over it to be replaced by a level crossing.

Although elsewhere, even as close as Middlesbrough, attempts have been made for many years to have several level crossings eliminated, there is no doubt that the proposal would remove one of the last bottlenecks on the fine A172 road between Stokesley and the Tontine.

At Potto Station an interesting old relic remains, which is nearly as old as the line itself. To carry rainwater away from the platform are two iron rails, set on their sides.

On one of them can clearly be seen the date of its manufacture - 1863 - together with marks indicating that it was produced by the Middlesbrough firm of Bolckow Vaughn - P.W.B.S