Harrogate Station

[DarloRich]

I was at Harrogate recently for the first time in a long time - Can anyone tell me what this is/ was used for:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darlo2009/13009617674/

 

[John Webb]

I assume your picture is a close-up of the door in the distance right of centre in this picture:
Harrogate railway station, Yorkshire

© Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on picture to go to the larger original.)
Possibly something to do with loading/unloading of postal items? (When the railways handled more GPO stuff than they do now!)

 

[DarloRich]

I assume you picture is a close-up of the door in the distance in this picture:
Harrogate railway station, Yorkshire

© Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
(Click on picture to go to the larger original.)
Possibly something to do with loading/unloading of postal items? (When the railways handled more GPO stuff than they do now!)

Correct - i thought it might be a little shed of some sort

 

[John Webb]

Correct - i thought it might be a little shed of some sort

None of the books I have on railways around Harrogate mention any sort of loco shed at the station - it was a little further away at Starbeck. Even allowing for the considerable redevelopment around the station, there's no sign of ventilation or the like which would be necessary.

Beside GPO work, BR might have used it for their parcels traffic?

 

[DarloRich]

None of the books I have on railways around Harrogate mention any sort of loco shed at the station - it was a little further away at Starbeck. Even allowing for the considerable redevelopment around the station, there's no sign of ventilation or the like which would be necessary.

Beside GPO work, BR might have used it for their parcels traffic?

I thought parcels of some sort but could find any reference to TPO services using Harrogate

 

[Ploughman]

I was in there about 1990 and it seemed to be used as a parcels office from what I can remember.
Would it have been served by a DMU and trailer van. They were fairly common in the NE.

 

[lincolnshire]

I think it used to be where the parcel van was placed back in the days of parcel trains, used to be Red Star Parcel point. If me memory serves me right it has a platform inside as now used as a dumping point / store and not sure if the LOM has his office in there too.]

All back in the days when parcels travel by trains and travel in Brutes which was then wheeled down ramps off trains for sorting before been loaded into Rail Express parcel vans driven and the delivered to business and homes by National Carriers Staff. All back in the days when B.R. provided the fastest parcel service in the UK with Red Star.

Did you know about the steps to nowhere now in the station concourse area block off now that used to go to the origional footbridge?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Loco shed was at Starbeck just down the line so not much point having another loco shed at Harrogate.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
only room for about one parcel van if I remember rightly

 

[Condor7]

While on this subject, I know the track leading up to that door was once used as platform 1 (I think) before it was fenced off.

On my infrequent visits to Harrogate I have never seen it in use, does anyone know if it does ever get used?
My guess is it may be used for ECS but as I say I have never actually seen anything in it.

 

[Welshman]

Back in the day before through Leeds-Harrogate-York running, platform 1 used to be the bay platform for the Harrogate-York services.

I remember boarding a 1st Gen. dmu from there in the 1960s.

 

[DarloRich]

While on this subject, I know the track leading up to that door was once used as platform 1 (I think) before it was fenced off.

On my infrequent visits to Harrogate I have never seen it in use, does anyone know if it does ever get used?
My guess is it may be used for ECS but as I say I have never actually seen anything in it.

I have seen it used for stabling ECS but can not recall ever getting a train from there

 

[danielpj]

The platform was number 2, and was used until the early 1990s for Harrogate - York workings. I think on Sundays until the early 1990s the through service was still split in Harrogate - with workings doing Leeds/Knaresborough and Harrogate/York, due to the Sunday York service being summer only. This explains why the remaining platforms are numbered 1 and 3 (i.e. no platform 2). The fence was put up in the mid 1990s and it now just serves to accommodate units stabled overnight/weekends at Harrogate.

I remember the bay platforms on the south end of the station still being there until the footbridge was taken down in 1990 and the rear car park extended. They weren't in use during my memory so I don't know the platform numbers.

 

[Condor7]

Thanks for that info Daniel.

There is still one Harrogate to York service on a Sunday morning at 10:46 but as far as I can see that is the only one all week.

I wonder why they feel it necessary to fence the platform off, at least if the fence was not there they have the option to use the platform all be it only occasionally.