The Cinder Track - Part 1 - Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby

This is the name given to the disused railway line between Whitby and Scarborough. It is now a footpath, bridleway and cycle trail and is around 23 miles long.

I camped in the van for a few days at Robin Hood's Bay and during my stay walked the entire length of the trail.

On my first day, I walked north to Whitby

The Scarborough and Whitby Railway was well known to many thousands of tourists who spent their holidays on this part of the Yorkshire coast between 1885 and 1965.

Before that time the coast between the two towns was rarely visited by the holidaymaker and Robin Hood's Bay was a relatively un-known fishing village. This was soon to change with the advent of the railway and prophetic words were printed in the Scarborough Gazette in 1884 when, in reference to the coming railway, it reported: "Robin Hood's Bay has hitherto been almost inaccessible from Scarborough, and will ere long undoubtedly develop into a favourite watering place".

The Railway was opened on the 16th July 1885. The first suggestion to link Scarborough and Whitby by rail came in 1848, three years after the opening of the York-Scarborough line which branched out at Rillington to connect up to the hitherto independent Whitby-Pickering line.

The Scarborough & Whitby Railway was a late arrival on the railway scene opening on 16th July 1885 long after the first proposal to open a line between the two towns in the 1848. One of the problems in building a line was the hilly topography and many of the early schemes foundered because of the difficulty finding an economic route and raising sufficient capital to construct the line.

In the early 1930's traffic improved considerably with the introduction of cheap fares aimed at holidaymakers. Prior to 1933 trains were run over the coast line either between Scarborough and Whitby or between Scarborough and Saltburn but in that year Middlesbrough took over as the northern terminus. This meant that through trains were working a 58 mile route, 37 miles of which was single track, with limited passing places. The gradients were also amongst the most severe in the North Eastern area and the presence of frequent sea fog, which made the rails slippery, aggravated the problem.

In 1933 traffic was so heavy in the summer that great difficulty was experienced in working the service and a Committee on the Working of the Coast Line was set up. Their brief was to make recommendations to give a greatly improved service in the summer of 1934. The Committee visited every station to discuss the working difficulties and their suggestions included the provision of two new passing places and improved signalling and the building of a bay platform at Scarborough Central.

Hawkser Station - now cycle hire and railway carriage accommodation centre

For details of the station see Hawkser Station - from the excellent Disused stations website

Whitby Abbey as seen from the Track

Larpool Viaduct - also known as the Esk Valley Viaduct formerly carried the Scarborough & Whitby Railway over the River Esk just south of Prospect Hill Junction in Whitby, where the line met the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway. 

On the north side of the river, it also crosses Northern Rail's Esk Valley Line (formerly the Whitby and Pickering Railway) between Whitby and Ruswarp railway stations. Construction began in October 1882, finishing two years later on 24 October 1884. 

The line enters Whitby near the Community College at Whitby West Cliff Station

Whitby's original 'station' stood near to the end of the remaining platform, in the form of the offices, workshop and carriage shed of the Whitby and Pickering Railway, a single track horse worked line opened throughout in 1836. Its engineer was George Stephenson.