A North Yorkshire man who moved his family into a converted railway station on the Esk Valley line is encouraging others to explore the scenic route to Whitby.
A man who lives and volunteers at a remote railway station in North Yorkshire is encouraging people to visit the area and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the route to Whitby.
Tim Hill and his wife Elly left the busy market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire to move into a unique property at Battersby station. The couple relocated to the site with their three young children in 2007, purchasing the old station building which has been carefully converted into a four-bedroom bungalow.
The remote station is situated on the highly picturesque Esk Valley Railway. Northern operates services along this route, running passenger trains between Middlesbrough and the popular Yorkshire Coast seaside resort of Whitby. Along the journey, the services call at a number of rural stations located within the scenic North York Moors National Park.
Tim and Elly decided to buy the converted bungalow as soon as they saw it, having been highly impressed by the surrounding area and the lifestyle it could offer their family.
Tim Hill said:
"We wanted to live in the countryside and have some more traffic-free space for the kids.
We went to view the house and even before we'd stepped inside it, we just knew it was the right one for us.
It’s a peaceful and beautiful place with ever-changing views of the hills.
It’s been the perfect, safe family home for the kids to grow up in. We’re surrounded by fields and footpaths, so they had the run of the place, and would often be playing outside with friends for hours on end.
We also made regular use of the train for trips to other places on the North York Moors and the beach at Whitby."
Battersby has a significant railway history, having been a busy through station during the nineteenth century. In that era, the station was heavily used by freight trains transporting ironstone. However, the subsequent decline of mining in the area eventually led to one of the railway lines being completely closed in the 1950s.
Today, passenger trains stop at the station twelve times a day. To ensure maximum safety and confirm that there are no other services operating on the single-line track, train drivers must exchange tokens from a machine located directly on the platform before reversing their trains out of the station.
A few years after moving into their four-bedroom bungalow, Tim and a few other local residents decided to form an adoption group called the Friends of Battersby Station. The group consists of individuals who volunteer their time to look after and maintain the remote station throughout the calendar year.
Tim Hill said:
"When we first moved here in 2007 it wasn’t just the house that looked a bit sad and unloved – the station itself did too.
I wanted to do something about it so started out picking up litter and clearing back overgrown vegetation. We now have quite a few volunteers who help look after the station.
We bought new benches, picnic tables and installed planters which we tend to year-round. The watering of plants in summer takes quite some effort. We’re also working to help support the local wildlife.
I’ve installed bat and bird boxes on the mature pine trees, sown wildflower seeds, and we even have a bug hotel on the platform."
Community involvement is prominent along the entire route. There are dedicated station adoption groups at each of the seventeen stations situated on the Esk Valley Railway.
These volunteer groups work closely with the Esk Valley Community Railway Partnership. Together, their primary goal is to make the stations more pleasant and welcoming environments for passengers to visit as they travel towards Whitby and other destinations across the region.
The route is operated by Northern, which is currently the second largest train operator in the United Kingdom. The company runs approximately 2,650 services a day, serving more than 500 stations across the North of England.
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