Harrogate and Wetherby

Nowadays, Harrogate is half way along one commuter line connecting York with Leeds - the only surviving railway in the whole area. But half a century ago it was a very different matter. Through 174 fascinating photographs - most from the 1950s - plus track plans and a welter of other detail - "Railway Memories Number 24" takes us back to the time when railways from all directions converged on Harrogate. It illustrates vividly the time when Harrogate was one of the most important stations on a main line linking the West Riding with the North and when prestige Pullman trains such as the famous "Queen of Scots" were the everyday routine along with other long-distance expresses. It recalls the time when neighbouring Starbeck was an important railway hub with an engine depot and freight marshalling yards handling heavy goods trains day and night. And we are transported back to the days before Beeching when there were two main rail routes between Leeds and Harrogate, one of them via the important town of Wetherby which has had no railway at all for the last 45 years. Those were the days when thousands of punters travelled hopefully to race meetings at Wetherby and Ripon by special trains which are also illustrated along with the railways to York, Tadcaster, Boroughbridge and the Nidderdale.