The term ‘second station’ needs definition. It is readily explained by reference to two useful books. The first is R. V. J. Butt’s The Directory of Railway Stations in which the term is frequently used. For example, under the reference to Mirfield, we are informed that the first station was opened by the Manchester & Leeds Railway in April 1846. It closed on 5th March 1866 and was replaced by a second station 185m due east by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway opening on the same date.
The second book, M. H. Cobb’s The Railways of Great Britain – A Historical Atlas, presents less specific dates, but compensates by showing the disposition of all stations, first and second, in relation to the railway network in a particular area. The term second station (2nd) is used to indicate the opening of a second station, its position relative to the first station clearly shown.
The purpose of this article is to feature three second stations in Yorkshire: Middlesbrough, Wakefield and Boroughbridge. Much use is made of contemporary newspaper reports written by on-the-spot reporters who witnessed developments as they took place.
Middlesbrough
The nineteenth century planned town of Middlesbrough possessed two early stations which were built at the extremity of the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s Middlesbrough Branch. Both were located on the south bank of the Tees estuary, the first in 1830 (Watson’s Wharf), the second in 1840. We can gain some idea of the quality of these stations from Francis Whishaw ( 1842) in which he states “The buildings at the several stations are very properly of an inexpensive character throughout, by which the saving of a very
