The Knaresborough to York Railway Line - The East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway

Although the main line to the north has now closed, as have the subsidiary lines to Boroughbridge and Pately Bridge, one interesting route has survived; the Knaresborough to York line, originally promoted as the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway.

The first reading  of the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway Bill took place in Parliament on February 14th 1846 and it received Royal Assent on the 16th July in that same year. The line opened on the 30th of October 1848; it was 15 miles and 14 chains in length, running from the line of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway one and a half miles north of York at Skelton Junction, to a junction with the Leeds and Thirsk Railway just outside Knaresborough, at Hay Lane. The steepest gradient to be found on the line was 1 in 120 and the smallest radius of curve was 5 furlongs