Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway
The Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway (M&G) was a railway line serving the towns of Middlesbrough and Guisborough as well as areas of the Eston Hills in North Yorkshire from 1853 through to 1964.
The M&G was backed by the Pease family, one of the major iron ore mine owners. It was one of two railway schemes (along with the Cleveland Railway) competing for the mining business in the area. It was promoted by the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR), which worked the line and absorbed it in 1858.
The line was opened in 1853 to an iron ore mine at Cod Hill, and passenger services started a year later, stopping in the villages of Ormesby, Nunthorpe and Pinchinthorpe, before terminating at Guisborough. A private station also existed for the sole use of the Pease family at Hutton Gate for the nearby Hutton Hall.
The Cleveland Railway's original Act was for a line east of Guisborough, but it also developed a rival line across private land branching from further along the S&DR than the M&G, and after permission from the government, its line extended to Guisborough, meaning the town was served by two railway lines.
Despite the line's close proximity to the Picton-Battersby Line, it took until around 1865 for a link to be built between the two.
During 1863-5 both M&G and the Cleveland Railway were absorbed by NER and the old Cleveland line was abandoned south of Ormesby. NER then connected the line east of Guisborough to the M&G line before Guisborough, meaning trains had to reverse out of the terminal before continuing along the line to Loftus. It remained this way until its closure in 1960.
A new station was built at Pitchinthorpe and in 1904, Hutton Gate was purchased for public use. The remaining stretch of the Cleveland line was connected to the Middlesbrough-Redcar line and was run as a goods service until 1966.
Pitchinthorpe station closed in 1951, with Hutton Gate and Guisborough closing when the branch line service to Middlesbrough ended in 1964.
The line from Nunthorpe Junction to Guisborough closed in 1964 leaving the section from Middlesbrough open to Battersby, and still remains in use as part of the Esk Valley Line.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia