Selby station


 * This article is about the railway station in England. For the Puffing Billy Railway station near Melbourne, Australia, see Selby railway station, Melbourne.

Selby railway station serves the town of Selby in North Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Hull-York Line 21 mi south of York, Leeds-Hull Line 20.75 mi east of Leeds and 31 mi 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.

History
The original station was opened in 1834 by the Leeds and Selby Railway; it 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 to the south of the 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, 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 bascule bridge swing bridge was installed to the northeast of the station, replaced by a swing bridge in 1891. 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. Uptil 1904 the line had a separate station, Brayton Gates, 1 mile west of Selby. The line was predominantly used for agricultural traffic but also carried passengers until 1930, its final closure taking place in 1960.

Another branch was built to link Selby to the nearby port town of Goole in 1910. The Selby to Goole Line ran via the villages of Barlow, Drax and Rawcliffe and closed in 1964.

The Selby Diversion
Prior to 1983, Selby was on the 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.

It was the first purpose built section of high-speed railway in the UK having a design speed of 125 mph and predated the first section of High Speed 1 by 20 years.

The original route north of Selby was closed and in 1989 was converted into a cycle track which now forms part of route 65 of the National Cycle Network. The section passing Barlby and Riccall was used to to build a bypass on the A19. The southern section remains in operation and is used by passenger services to Doncaster & London and goods traffic heading to the Potter Group freight terminal near the former Barlby Junction, a short distance east of the station on the Hull line.

175th Anniversary
In 2009 the 175th anniversary of the opening of the first railway station in Selby was celebrated.

Current services
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 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 East Coast service and five from First Hull Trains).