Nunthorpe railway station


Nunthorpe railway station serves the Middlesbrough suburb of Nunthorpe; the station lies within the borough of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Esk Valley Line and is operated by Northern Trains who provide all of the station's passenger services. One of the two passing loops on the line is located here and there is a level crossing at the eastern end. The signal box that operates it also supervises the movements of trains on the entire branch and remotely controls the junction further down the line at Battersby.

History

Nunthorpe was originally on the Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway line from Middlesbrough to Guisborough and opened in 1854. In 1964, the line between Nunthorpe and Guisborough was closed, meaning Nunthorpe was no longer a junction and only a station on the line to Whitby via Battersby.
The December 2007 timetable brought about significant changes, and the service is now better than it has been since the mid-1980s when there was an hourly Nunthorpe – Middlesbrough service including seven Whitby trains.

Tees Valley Metro

Nunthorpe station is included, along with other sections of the Esk Valley Line, in the proposed Tees Valley Metro. This is a project to upgrade the Esk Valley Line, Tees Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service. In the initial phases the services will be heavy rail mostly along existing alignments. The later phase may introduce tram-trains to allow street running. The project is backed by all the local authorities through which the system would run. These include Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, Stockton-On-Tees and Darlington. Support has also been forthcoming from the Department for Transport.
This has brought some improvements to Nunthorpe station, including a new waiting shelter, CCTV cameras and digital information screens. The plans for larger-scale upgrades have been dropped due to lack of available funding.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticketing provision, so all tickets must be purchased prior to travel or on the train. The main buildings still stand, but are now used as private residential accommodation. A waiting shelter is located on platform 2, whilst platform 1 has a canopied waiting area adjoining the main building. Digital CIS displays, timetable posters and a public telephone are provided to offer train running information. Step-free access is available to both platforms via the level crossing.

Services

As of the December 2019 timetable change, Northern Trains run an hourly service on the Esk Valley Line between Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, with 6 trains per day continuing to Whitby.
Most trains heading towards Middlesbrough continue to Newcastle and Hexham.
Additional trains on weekdays and Saturdays run along the Esk Valley Line to Castleton Moor, and Battersby.
Following the May 2014 timetable change, the service between Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe was significantly improved, with this allowing for a regular service to the new station at James Cook University Hospital.
Predominantly, rolling stock on the Esk Valley Line consists of Class 156 and Class 158 diesel multiple units, both of which were introduced in to service in the late 1980s.
The Class 156 and 158 units operating on the Esk Valley Line are currently in the process of being refurbished, with upgrades including free WiFi, power sockets, on-board passenger information displays, and an interior refresh.
Class 142 'Pacer' trains served the line, until the turn of the new decade, when they were withdrawn from passenger service. Class 144 'Pacer' trains were also used frequently on the Esk Valley Line, until around 2005.