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 South Milford

South Milford is located on the earliest main-line railway to be built in Yorkshire: the Leeds & Selby Railway, engineered by James Walker and opened to passengers in September 1834 and freight in December (see also Garforth). The station is situated on the northern fringe of the village (OS Grid Ref SE 494 321) and is also well placed to serve the larger township of Sherburn in Elmet. It lies immediately west of a regionally significant road linking Tadcaster with Ferrybridge (formerly the A162 but this now follows a bypass) and was originally a convenient railhead for a wide area.

By the nineteen-seventies, South Milford was the only remaining example of an original (albeit slightly extended) L&S wayside station; however, it had not been not listed and was demolished. Though the station remains open, it now has no features of historic interest.

View east in 1971, with the station house on the right, together with later waiting shelters, and a standard NER signalbox and platform lamp. The portion of the house nearest the viewer was an enlargement carried out by the NER in 1878.

The station began as a two-storey cottage in rendered brick with a stone-flagged roof and modest hoodmoulds to the windows, as seen at Garforth. The original platform was a paved area, 6 inches high and 8 feet wide [Whishaw] which can be seen above fronting the station house and an early waiting shed beyond. This platform was for passengers bound for Leeds and none was provided for eastbound travellers. Following complaints in 1869, proper platforms were installed along with the waiting shed seen on the left. The stationmaster's dwelling being inadequate by comparison with most NER examples, it was extended in 1878, at which time the original windows lost their hoodmoulds.

The westbound platform is seen at its original height, accompanied by what appears to be an early NER platform shelter, with a brick waiting room and office built into the rear. The Yorkshire (horizontal) sliding sashes seen in its windows possibly echo those originally installed in the station house.

 The South Milford signalbox was a classic  example of the style employed for many  years on the NER's Southern Division, one  of three into which the company's network  was divided for engineering purposes.  Characteristic features include the  panelled upper walls, with corbelled-out  corner piers, and the arched window to the  locking room below.

 The mechanical signal wires and point  rodding originally came out through a slit  at the bottom. This had been bricked up  when this photograph was taken in 1971,  but the recycled old rail, forming its lintel,  was still very evident.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 Contact: info@railwayarchitecture.org.uk

 

© W. Fawcett, 2011