Scruton railway station


Scruton railway station is a restored railway station on the Wensleydale Railway that serves the village of Scruton, in North Yorkshire, England.

History

Opened by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway on 6 March 1848 as "Scruton Lane", it was renamed "Scruton" not long afterwards. The station became part of the London and North Eastern Railway upon the railway grouping of 1923 before being taken over by British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was closed to passenger traffic by British Railways on 26 April 1954, with goods traffic continuing until 7 May 1956.

Present day

Despite the station's closure, the line remained open for limestone traffic until 1992 after which it was taken over by the Wensleydale Railway which obtained a lease of the from Northallerton to.
By the time the Wensleydale Railway opened in 2003, Scruton station was a dilapidated and overgrown state. Restoration works were undertaken with the support of Scruton Parish Council and a grant from the Railway Heritage Trust. After completion of the restoration of the structure of the buildings and re-roofing, the Wensleydale Railway signed a sublease with Scruton Parish Council on 27 April 2011 which passed the responsibility for maintaining and restoring the building to the Wensleydale Railway Trust.
On 26 April 2014, Scruton station reopened to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the line's closure to passenger services. A special reopening service was run with Leyland railbus LEV1. By November 2014, although restoration of the building was virtually complete a short length of platform was required for construction to bring it into compliance with modern regulations which require platforms to be at least. The station did not operate until the Wensleydale's eastern terminus at was completed and opened to the public on 22 November 2014.
The station, along with that at, was closed in August 2016 following a collision between a train and a car at a level crossing near Yafforth. It is hoped to re-open the line and station at a future date once work to upgrade the level crossing equipment is complete.