Harrogate, the well-known Yorkshire spa town and popular tourist destination, was once connected by several railway lines and had a main-line station that was served by through expresses to Scotland and London. Knaresborough, its smaller neighbour, situated in the valley of the River Nidd (which, as may be expected, is called Nidderdale) was once of much greater importance as the mute ruins of a Norman castle testify. To the east of Knaresborough are the remains of a main line - the Leeds Northern route. This ran from Harrogate to Ripon and onwards to Northallerton and carried freight traffic and expresses such as those that used to run cross-country from Liverpool to Newcastle.

This main line originated as the Leeds & Thirsk Railway, authorised in 1854. However, soon after construction started it had designs on an extension to the north via Northallerton and Yarm to join the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway. Parliamentary powers for construction were sought but George Hudson exerted pressure to have the stretch between melmerby and Northallerton dropped from the scheme so that trains would use his Great North of England Railway between York and Northallerton instead.

The railway was opened between Ripon and Thirsk on 31st may 1848; the Weeton to Wormald Green section being opened on1st September 1848 and finally the intermediate link from Wormald Green to Ripon on 13th September of that same year. Opening of the route down to Leeds had to await the completion of the 3,971 yard Bramhope Tunnel; as a result of this delay the entire line was not open until the 9th of July 1849.

The Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company very soon looked again at the possibility of extending north from melmerby to Northallerton and in 1848 obtained the necessary powers to do so. In 1851 the company changed its name to the Leeds Northern Railway and its main line became an important through route. However, by the 1960s British Railways no longer regarded the route as an essential part of its network and correspondingly the services north of Harrogate were run down and finally withdrawn on 6th March 1967, leaving the town with services only to Leeds and York.