This is York

IT exudes all the style and detail one would associate with a large Victorian station, but while some of its contemporaries were designed to dominate their surroundings and show-off the railway’s presence, York is in contrast rather understated.

Standing in the shadow of the most complete medieval city walls in England, the grandeur of the station and the adjoining hotel complement rather than compete with their environment. The renowned railway author Ken Hoole wrote: “The 1877 station faces the exterior of the walls and in spring the ramparts are covered with daffodils which must, over the years, have gladdened the heart of many passengers.”

The York & North Midland Railway opened a temporary station just outside the city walls at Queen Street in May 1839. A permanent station, for which costs were shared with the Great North of England Railway, opened at the same time as the latter company’s line to Darlington in 1841. Four years later, the general growth in traffic, combined with the opening of the Scarborough branch, prompted its enlargement, but the site, within the city walls, was too constrained to allow further expansion.

As a terminal station, railway operations were also hampered by the need for trains to and from the north and Scarborough to reverse.

An Act granting permission for a new station was obtained in 1866, but it would be another five years before serious planning work began. Lines from the south would be diverted directly into the new station. At the northern end, a connection would be made with the Scarborough line, close to where it crossed the River Ouse, and a large loop created to swing the main line east of its original alignment to reach the platforms.

North Eastern Railway engineer-in-chief Thomas Harrison conceived the basic design, working