Saltburn railway station

Saltburn
General information
Location	Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland England
Coordinates	54°35′00″N 0°58′31″W / 54.5834185°N 0.9752233°W / 54.5834185; -0.9752233
Grid reference	NZ664214
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Other information
Station code	SLB
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Original company	North Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway British Rail (North Eastern Region)
Key dates
19 August 1861	Opened
Passengers
2019/20	0.257 million
2020/21	61,660
2021/22	0.202 million
2022/23	0.249 million
2023/24	0.319 million
Location Saltburn Location in North Yorkshire, England
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Saltburn is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 12 miles 57 chains (20.5 km) east of Middlesbrough, serves the seaside town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

The station was opened by the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the terminus of their line from Redcar on 17 August 1861 (although the ornate station building was not finished until the following year). Eleven years later, the North Eastern Railway opened a line towards Brotton (the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway)^[1] from the town, but this diverged from the original route some 440 yards (400 m) west of the 1861 station in order to avoid excessively steep gradients further east. This meant the passenger trains from the town to Loftus and Whitby that started in 1875 had to reverse into and out of the terminus before regaining the correct direction at Saltburn West Junction. This line is still in operation today to serve the Skinningrove Steelworks and the Boulby potash mine, although passenger trains ceased in 1958.

In its heyday, the station had four platforms and a sizeable number of carriage sidings to handle the large quantities of excursion trains that ran there – these included services from as far away as Leeds and Blackpool.^[2] There was also a short siding extension (approximately 300 yards (270 m)) from the main station to another platform at the rear of the railway-owned Zetland Hotel (opened in 1863) where passengers in first class carriages could disembark directly into their accommodation.

A 1974 remodelling scheme^[3] saw the station reduced in size with the two main platforms and signal box being taken out of use along with most of the sidings and one of the two running lines from West Junction. Today both of the two surviving excursion bay platforms are used for scheduled services, but neither the main station building nor the Zetland Hotel is in rail-related use – the former having been converted into a photographic studio, cafe and various other retail outlets and the latter into luxury flats.

Starting in 2006, Saltburn was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions.^[4][5][6][7]

As part of the scheme, Saltburn Station would have received new shelters and new electronic information displays, as well as improved service to Darlington (1–2 to 4 trains per hour).^[4]

However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved.^[8] Several stations eventually got their improvements including Saltburn in 2012,^[9] and there is a possibility of improved rollingstock and services in the future which may affect Saltburn.^[10]

It is unmanned, and has two acrylic glass passenger shelters, bench seating and an electronic information board. A self-service ticket machine has also been installed to allow intending passenger to buy tickets prior to travel or collect pre-paid tickets. Step-free access is available from the main entrance to both platforms.^[11]

Station facilities here were improved in Summer 2012. The package for this station included new waiting shelters, decorative planting schemes, renewed station signage, a digital information screen displaying live departures, and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.^[9]

Northern Trains Tees Valley Line
v t e
Bishop Auckland – Saltburn via Darlington & Middlesbrough
Bishop Auckland Shildon Newton Aycliffe Heighington North Road Darlington Dinsdale Allens West Eaglescliffe Thornaby Middlesbrough South Bank Redcar Central Redcar East Longbeck Marske Saltburn

As of December 2023, the station is served by two trains per hour to Darlington, of which one continues to Bishop Auckland, operated by Northern Trains.^[12] The station is also served by an hourly TransPennine Express service to Manchester Airport via Yarm.^[13] Northern services use platform 1 and TPE trains usually depart from platform 2.

On Sundays, the station is served by an hourly Northern Trains service to Bishop Auckland and an hourly TransPennine Express to Manchester Airport.

Services are operated using Class 156, 158 and 185 DMUs.

From December 2024 timetable change, the majority of Transpennine Express services will begin and end their journeys at Redcar Central, leaving Saltburn with just three departures a day.^[14]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Northern Trains Tees Valley Line		Marske
		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Redcar Central

• Media related to Saltburn railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Train times and station information for Saltburn railway station from National Rail