The railway line between York and was built by the Great North of England Railway, most of which was authorised in 1837; the line was formally opened on 30 March 1841. The station at Thirsk, which opened to the public on 31 March 1841, was originally named Newcastle Junction. In 1933 Britain's first route-setting power signal box using a switch panel rather than a lever frame opened at Thirsk, to the specification of the LNER's signalling engineers A.F. Bound and A. E. Tattersall, forming the template for many such future installations on the nation's railway network. Larger schemes to a similar design followed at other locations on the former North Eastern Railway network, such as Hull Paragon, Northallerton and York. Thirsk signal box itself, after various alterations over the course of its life, eventually closed around 1989 under the York IECC signalling scheme.
Facilities
The station has a staffed ticket office, which is open through the week and there is also self-service ticket machine available. There is a waiting shelter on the northbound platform and customer help points and digital CIS displays on both sides. Step-free access to both platforms is via a barrow crossing and only possible when the station is staffed.
Services
There is generally an hourly service northbound to via and southbound to,, and. One late evening northbound TransPennine service to also stops at Thirsk. Grand Central Railway operates five fast services a day to, stopping only at York, with northbound services to. Sundays see an hourly service towards Redcar and to York/Manchester Airport and three Grand Central trains to and from London which continue northbound to and Sunderland.
Events
1841 Station opened at the same time as the York - Darlington line.
Accidents occurred in 1867, 1870, 1875, 1879 and 1882.
1933 Britain's first "panel" route-setting power signal box opened at Thirsk.
1954 The first four carriages of the "Heart of Midlothian" express from King's Cross to Edinburgh composed of thirteen coaches derailed. The four carriages derailed after problems with signalling and points, no one was injured.
1959 Ripon services cease in September with closure of Melmerby branch line to all traffic.
1967 A goods wagon derailed which led to a collision with an express, 7 people were killed, 45 injured.