Pickering railway station: History of Yorkshire heritage station part of North Yorkshire Moors Railway that connects to Whitby and where Downton Abbey was filmed

Pickering railway station is the southern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) and serves the town of Pickering.

History of Pickering railway station

The first railway came to Pickering from the north in 1836, but it wasn’t until the railway was connected from the south in 1845 that the present-day station was built.

The original 1836 station was part of the Whitby and Pickering Railway, engineered by George Stephenson.

The Whitby and Pickering Railway was bought by the York and North Midland Railway Company in 1845 and they extended the railway south to connect to the then-new York to Scarborough railway line.

The railway was rebuilt for trains that switched from being pulled by horses to being pulled by steam locomotives.

York architect G.T. Andrews designed the new Pickering station and it was completed in 1847.

No-one’s history can match Yorkshire’s - get our Heritage newsletter

The station was closed by British Railways in March 1965 and there was some controversy in the early 1970s when Pickering Urban District Council wanted to demolish the station and turn it into a car park.

There was a lot of backlash from the public and following an enquiry, the station was saved and it reopened in 1975. It has since served as the southern terminus of the NYMR.

Between the years of 2000 and 2011, the station had undergone an extensive renovation via the Heritage Lottery Fund and a new learning centre and visitor centre were added.