Hawes station opened for NER traffic (on the Wensleydale Branch to Northallerton via Leyburn and Bedale) on June 20th, 1878. Our line (the Hawes Branch between Hawes Junction and Hawes) opened later the same year. (Goods services commenced on August 1st, 1878 and passenger services commenced a few months later on October 1st, 1878.)
The entire Hawes Branch, including Hawes station, was constructed by the Midland Railway Company. However, it was officially a ‘joint’ station and both the NER and Midland had running powers and maintenance liabilities.
From opening until closure, the rail facilities at Hawes included:
- A pair of platforms, with one adjacent railway track per platform. (The platforms at Hawes remain in situ, but the tracks have been lifted except for the two short lengths adjacent to the platforms. One of these sections of track is used to display static exhibits associated with the museum – see Image 1 below.)
- A booking office alongside the southern platform.
- A waiting room alongside the northern platform.
- A small goods shed.
- A livestock dock with three pens. (Demolished)
- A coal office. (Demolished)
- A weighbridge with adjacent yard office. (Both still in situ.)
- A detached house for the Station Master.
- Four sidings (one running through the goods shed, two of the others having adjacent but separate general loading / unloading docks. (All removed / demolished.)
- Two signal boxes: ‘Hawes West’ and ‘Hawes East’. (Both demolished.)
Image 1 was taken from bridge 38 (at the west end of the station). It shows the two platforms, the waiting shelter (left) and the former booking office (right). The latter is now physically part of the museum complex, but it is currently occupied by a separate business.
Image 2 was taken from the station approach road. The former goods shed is now also part of the museum. It is connected to the former booking office via a modern link building. Most of the former goods yard area is now used as a public car-park.
The booking office was built to the same design as the ‘small’ stations on the main Settle and Carlisle Railway. For information about these structures, see:
https://scrca.foscl.org.uk/location-variants/station-main-building-mrc-scr-standard-no-3-small
According to the information panel visible in Image 4, the weighbridge equipment is still in situ. The weighbridge equipment was installed first, then the hut was constructed around it. The yard office and weighbridge now form part of the museum.
The proposed Upper Wensleydale Railway would see the station re-opened and some form of regular passenger service reinstated from Hawes to Garsdale and beyond.
As indicated by the list of structures and photographs above, a number of the key structures are still in situ, although they have all acquired new uses. The proposed reinstated railway could operate without directly affecting any of these structures. However, acquiring rights to use the platforms, access road and car-park would eliminate the need to create duplicate facilities elsewhere in the town.
Travel Notes
Please note that the market town of Hawes is NOT currently connected to the UK’s national rail network or any other operational railway and that the FORMER railway station at Hawes is NOT currently served by any trains. The nearest operational railway station on the UK’s national rail network is Garsdale, six miles to the west.
Hawes is the hub for a number of local bus services including the ‘Little White Bus’, which provides scheduled and ‘on demand’ services to and from Garsdale Station. For information about bus services in the Hawes area, see:
http://www.littlewhitebus.co.uk
and
https://www.dalesbus.org