Disused railway lines as public rights of way.

The above photo shows Barton station buildings before their demolition in 1973, this time looking west (s.p.b.), scanned from p. 38 of Anthony Berridge’s book, s.p.b. Of course ‘the Barton Line’ is still a functioning rail-line but if it were to ever cease to function as such in the future it would be an excellent candidate for converting to a linear public right of way once the rail-lines themselves were taken-up and trees, shrubs and wild plants were allowed to flourish at either side. There would be a local issue from Habrough to Cleethorpes where the Barton to Cleethorpes line runs alongside the south bank Trans-Pennine rail track and also at Habrough where the Immingham to Scunthorpe heavy goods track crosses over.

Although the station-master’s house incorporating a waiting room, ticket office etc. (see above) has gone from Barton’s station platform, along-with the ‘dutch barn’ storage shed, elsewhere along the line to Cleethorpes, particularly nearer to Grimsby, original station master’s houses survive, now as private residences. So the question is, along disused rail-lines do the station buildings survive or even any buildings related to the once goods traffic?

Two disused station sites that do contain some remnants of the once railway goods buildings are; the station site on the once Hull-Barnsley Railway at Little Weighton, a site now in private ownership so am not too sure of my facts, and, secondly the station site on the once same railway east of North Cave, beside the A1034 South Cave to Market Weighton road. Whether this was once North Cave’s station site I am not sure (again). There was a time when disused railway stations were also where semi derelict rail trucks and carriages could be found, the latter, if not there, could be found in many villages converted to ‘cosy’ living accommodation. Such examples gave rural sites a charm now lost.