Earby railway and station including footage of the line being lifted in 1970. Also the last public train that ran from Skipton to Colne booked as a special. selrap.org.uk are campaining to get this line re-opened.
Problem is most of where the line used to be is overgrown now. Fifty years of trees have taken it over, plus sections of the line have been built on now.
If this service between skipton and colne had been properly timetabled to run between skipton and Blackburn, it wouldn't have been closed, but because it was ,it was treated as branch line , leaving two isolated termini at skipton and colne, to this day,just 12 miles apart ,how utterly stupid
Thank you for posting. I often work round this area and wondered what it must of looked like with trains running between skipton and colne while driving from Carleton to broughton. I know if the branch lines wernt closed we wouldnt have preserved railways like embsey but it was so short sighted. Today the stations would be un manned and barriers and signals would be looked after by someone in york and would probably be cost effective but so many of the lines have been built on. I would of loved to see the railways in full swing but i can only just remember going to steeton station re opening with primary school around 89 - 90.
So sad watching this, but i am pleased you managed this footage and i thank you for that., incidentally i used this line to do my Train spotting at Skipton in the 50s, and my late Father, used to take milk to Elslack Station in the 1920s,for onward travel.
Passed there today - so sad to see this. Yet money is always sourced for damn road building.... The '60's and early '70's were an era of politically sanctioned vandalism. I hate that period.
Strange country Britain. We seem so good and efficient at dismantling our railways and magnificent Victorian engineering. It was a huge mistake to tear up our less busy railway routes, short sighted and irresponsible of us . Many of the lines we so swiftly destroyed would be greatly appreciated today and well used by travellers too. The line to Blackpool South was torn up and made single track in 1985. Now it is well used and more popular than ever, they can only run one service an hour so people aren't using it because the service is too infrequent. They are talking about re doubling it for a passing loop but it isn't in London so that's taking years and may never happen.
They should had never had closed this line, it would had being useful for the Blackpool to Colne service extended to Skipton and Keighley etc, especially the Todmorden curve has now reopened witch would provide direct Manchester Victoria to Burnley and Ordstall chord for Piccadilly, let alone that a Rose Grove chord in Burnley would be ideal to save trains reversing at Rose Grove so Manchester Road and Central/Barracks stations a directly connected, making it a Skipton-Earby-Colne-Nelson-Brierfield-Burnley-Todmorden-Walsden-Rochdale-Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly and onto the Airport, and Bradford could have a cross rail to connect Interchange with Foster Square to provide direct London St Pancras to Scotland services without reversing at Leeds, thrus means extending the Barnsley service using the Wakefield Curve and then the old direct line through Dewsbury and on into Bradford
back then it was cheaper to catch the train then driving .now its more expensive catching the train then driving .some people pay more for an all year round ticket .then what some one pays to keep a car on the road for all year.over a few years that's a lot of money say like between 5 ground and 10 ground .complete rip off compared to 60,70 years ago..
Fascinating but very sad footage of an important secondary route local to me which should never have been closed - thanks for uploading. The most railway closure damage was done in the late 60's and early 70's when important secondary routes such as this, the Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton line and the York-Beverley line, to name a few Yorks/Lancs routes, were all hastily closed. All would have been thriving through routes now but it's difficult to see any of them ever re-opening.
it would cost ten billion to reopen just a bit of the network they closed down. and all of it would cost about 250 billion just reopen every bit they closed down from 1962 to 1976 . an elephant has more of a chance passing threw the eye of a needle then some of those routes ever reopening ha ha .
A line so important that when the Reasurer of the North-East Lancashire Development Committee, Mr J C Roscow, went to count passengers using the train between Colne and Skipton from time to time he had to give up because there weren't any passengers. A member of the same committee, G Hale, stated that unless travelling with a pram most people went by bus or car and not by train. My source the Disused Station's article on the Skipton-Colne railway.
Hi all, well now SELRAP is moving boulders to get this rail line reopened, and sooner than you might think, for the very latest please go to the SELRAP website and download (AT A GLANCE 2017). you will all find it great reading.
I don’t think anyone in the Transport office in London could care less about this what was a wonderful line. Bloody shame. Thought that Drax would put in 50% of the cost to re open it
This film and Copyright belongs to me Michael Crewdson, The full version of the Earby Railway "Steam to Destruction" is available on DVD, please contact me for further details, Cost is £ 5.00 + Postage...
Barbara Castle closed the line , nothing at all to do with Beeching ,she was the transport minister in 1970 , and she agreed ,saying it wasn't making a profit, and now look , 53 years later .East Lancashire railway needs serious investment.
The crossing gates were purchased for use on a preserved railway where they were used for the rest of their expected lifespan - they don't last forever. The crossing box was also purchased and is still in use today at Damems on the Worth Valley Railway. But for these purchases the gates and box would almost certainly have become a large bonfire by the demolition contractors. Also before there was too much public vandalism at Foulridge, the station building was purchased then dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt at Ingrow on the Worth Valley Railway. All this activity by unpaid volunteers with some private sponsorship money for specialist professional work. If the line had not closed the Foulridge building would likely have been demolished and replaced with a bus shelter.
No reason why old railway lines can’t re open. The cost of re opening one might seem exorbitant but it would only buy you two or three miles of motorway at today’s prices.
