Scarborough railway station

Scarborough railway station, formerly called Scarborough Central, serves the seaside town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. It lies 42 mi east of York and is one of the eastern termini on the North TransPennine route operated by First TransPennine Express. The station is also at the northern end of the Yorkshire Coast Line, and has the longest station seat in the world at 152 yd in length.

From 1907 until 2010 the station approaches were controlled from a 120-lever signal box named Falsgrave (at the outer end of platform 1 and close to the former excursion station at Londesborough Road). In its final years, Falsgrave box controlled a mixture of colour-light and semaphore signals, including a gantry carrying 11 semaphores. The signal box and gantry were dismantled and removed in October 2010. The new signalling is a relay-based interlocking with two- and three-aspect LED signals controlled from an extension to the existing panel at nearby Seamer. Simplification of the track layout and major renewals took place at the same time.

History
Until 1965 the station also served a line from Whitby and until 1950 from Pickering. The station was previously named Scarborough Central to distinguish it from Scarborough Londesborough Road, now closed, on the York to Scarborough Line.

The current York to Blackpool service used to continue to Scarborough alongside other TransPennine Express services. This was operated by Arriva Trains Northern until Northern Rail took over the franchise in 2004. This service was usually worked by Metro-liveried Class 158 DMU, occasionally a DMU. There was also a local service from York to Scarborough, usually worked by a Pacer or a train.

Facilities
Scarborough station has a Travel Centre, ticket office, touch-screen ticket machines and the Pumpkin Cafe. The main building has a large waiting room.

Platforms 3–5 are partly covered, as is platform 1, which features the longest railway bench in the world.

Outside the station is a taxi rank and several bus shelters/stops where local and longer-distance bus services depart and arrive. These include Arriva service 93 to Whitby and Middlesbrough via A171; Coastliner services to West Yorkshire via A64; and East Yorkshire Motor Services 128 (to Pickering/Helmsley via A170) and 120/121 (south along A165 to Filey/Bridlington and further south).

Benches are provided throughout the station, which is staffed at all times.

The station also has two payphones, a vending machine and luggage trolleys, as well as toilets and cycle racks.

Services
On Monday to Saturday there is generally an hourly First TransPennine Express service to York, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and, with a two-hourly service to York and beyond on Sunday.

Northern Rail currently operates a daily two-hourly service to Filey, Bridlington, Hull and Sheffield via the Yorkshire Coast Line, with extra trains in peak hours.

East Midlands Trains provide a single direct summer service every Saturday to and from London St Pancras using the Midland Main Line via Sheffield and Leicester, as well as a connecting service to Sheffield.

Scarborough also sees summer specials from York, usually hauled by a variety of steam locomotives.

Future of the station
Three different proposals were put forward at the November 2009 Town Team meeting by SNAP Architects (Hull) with Local Transport Projects (Beverley) on the development of the Scarborough station area. The proposals all focused on different aspects (such as community/green/transport) of development. All three proposed idea of improving the station frontage and opening up an entrance to the south of the station.

Accident
On 10 August 1943, Scarborough station was the scene of an accident between two trains at platform 5. The late-running 09:05 express from Hull was wrongly routed by the signalman, and hit the 11:18 stopping train, which was waiting to depart. Four passengers in the first coach of the stopping train – all soldiers – were killed, 8 received serious injuries, and a further 22 suffered minor injuries. Nobody was injured on the express train.