Seamer proposed spur line

[Bryan]

I have just been looking through an old "Trains Illustrated" Feb 59
and a snippet caught my attention.
" It is reported in Yorkshire, writes Mr TE Rymer, that British Railways are considering the construction of a spur at Seamer to permit through running between York and the Bridlington line via Seamer following the recent closure of the Malton - Driffield branch"
No further detail given.
How far did the planning of this spur get?
Was any land acquired?
Are any plans available?
There is a folow up letter in the April 59 issue querying the fact that the Malton - Driffield closed or ceased running some years earlier and that the proposal may have more to do with the rumoured closure of the Selby - Market Weighton - Driffield line which would complicate any future York - Bridlington running.

Does anybody know anything more on this?

[50C]

I think that when the direct line from Selby to Bridlington via Market Weighton and Driffield
was closed a spur was added to the west of Hull Paragon station so that all excursion traffic to Bridlington took the Selby to Hull route and then headed upto Bridlington using the Hull Scarborough line thus avoiding any reversal in Paragon station.

[md644]

50C - Correct - I assume you mean the Anlaby Road curve (which is still there, but very rarely used).

But that just replaced an earlier line from Hessle Road-Cottingham South and eliminated several level crossings, i.e. direct running from the Selby direction up to Bridlington was available before then.

As to the original question, I'd always wondered if anything like that had ever been planned, so I'm intrigued to know the answer.....

[M&D]

Slightly off the topic, I know but this whole proposed spur was probably a wake up call to the the fact that several East coast resorts like Brid, Filey, etc were now effectively isolated from the West ridings, the source of most of the holiday traffic. Before 1958, there was the Malton-Driffield junction railway and the Driffield Selby line both acted as a possible direct route from the West ridings to the east coast. Now its total madness to commute say from Brid to York, or even Drif to Leeds without a huge detour via Hull or Scarborough.
I know I am blowing the Trumpet of the Yorkshire Wolds railway, but say having a direct link across the Wolds, would possibly mirror the Wensleydale railway ambition to reopen the entire Northallerton-Garsdale route (40 miles) , which suddenly acts a useful diversion from the ECML to WCML. I seriously doubt the 19 miles between Malton and Driffield would ever be rebuilt as a full trunk route (hopefully a 6-7 mile heritage line), but the option must be always open especially when the country is facing a future oil shortage, CO2 reductions and perhaps more freight passing through Hull docks. Its keeping the possibility open which is Key, avoiding new developments and rebuilding some of the line up to a good standard.
Such schemes now appear the norm with new heritage operations,eg the WRHA often refer to rebuilding the line to Kielder and southern half of the Waverley thus acting as a timber freight line...so what I am suggesting is not totally pie in the sky??

[52D]

We need a heritage train ferry to open the whole Kielder route. Seriously the 2 Ws the Waverley and the Woodhead should have never been closed there can be no more useful closed bits of line than those two routes. Timber out tourists in on the Kielder spur and generally a mixed bag on the Waverley. Everything on the Woodhead especially if it was electrified from Retford. I could see a case for Kings cross Liverpool trains calling at Retford, Sheffield and Manchester.
Also with these routes think of the usefulness for diversions. One route is a genuine East West link that Midland influenced management closed and the other is a route that with the saved S&C gives a good alternate route to Scotland.

[M&D]

Good point totally agree..but I think this Seamer spur would have been a poor replacement forn the York-Hull via Market Weighton line. Personally, this line should have never been shut, according to former railway employees it actually made a profit, but Beeching made it into a loss by taking into account the Level crossing upgrades needed. Unlike the 2 Ws, I can't see it coming back despite the brave campaign by the Ministers rail group, far too much has been built on at the York end and Especially around Market Weighton.
So it actually makes the former M&DJR line a good alternative, I reckon the line could bypass the old alignment without much housing clearance and have both a south/north facing junction south of Driff. station. Although dream talk at present, it could be done and other schemes are actually beening planned by the various heritage groups..ie the south curve back into Northallerton .
ps I am a great Woodhead fan, but if the line was re-instated, it would surely add to the already congested rail traffic in the Manchester hub...Possibly got around by reopening some of the Cheshire committee line???