Trains At York, ECML | 7/10/23

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The first York railway station was a temporary wooden building on Queen Street outside the walls of the city, opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway. It was succeeded in 1841, inside the walls, by what is now York old railway station.[4] In due course, the requirement that through trains between London and Newcastle needed to reverse out of the old York station to continue their journey necessitated the construction of a new through station outside the walls.
The present station, designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey and built by Lucas Brothers,[5] opened on 25 June 1877. It had 13 platforms and was at that time the largest in the world.[6] As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel (now The Principal York), designed by Peachey, opened in 1878.
Interior, 1915
In 1909 new platforms were added, and in 1938 the current footbridge was built and the station resignalled.
The building was heavily bombed during the Second World War.[7] On one occasion, on 29 April 1942,[8] 800 passengers had to be evacuated from a King's Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid.[7] On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman William Milner, who died after returning to his burning office to collect his first aid kit. He was posthumously awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct.[9] A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station.[7][8] The station was extensively repaired in 1947.
The station was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1968.[1]
The track layout through and around the station was remodelled again in 1988 as part of the resignalling scheme that was carried out prior to the electrification of the ECML shortly afterwards by British Rail. This resulted in several bay platforms (mainly on the eastern side) being taken out of service and the track to them removed. Consequently, the number of platforms was reduced from 15 to 11. At the same time a new signalling centre (York IECC) was commissioned on the western side of the station to control the new layout and also take over the function of several other signal boxes on the main line. The IECC here now supervises the main line from Temple Hirst (near Doncaster) through to Northallerton, along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It has also (since 2001–2) taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at Leeds and thus signals trains as far away as Gargrave and Morley.
In 2006–7, to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists, the approaches to the station were reorganised. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum.
The station was renovated in 2009. Platform 9 has been reconstructed and extensive lighting alterations were put in place. New automated ticket gates (similar to those in Leeds) were planned, but the City of York Council wished to avoid spoiling the historic nature of the station. The then operator National Express East Coast planned to appeal the decision but the plans were scrapped altogether upon handover to East Coast.[10]