Structure and Features

The station had two platforms, with a station house in the middle of the down platform. The two-storey house had a one-storey block attached for the waiting room and ticket office. The gable ends faced onto the platform and were decorated with timber, making it a rather grand addition and not the usual architecture used by the railway company. In between was a timber porch leading to a single-storey connecting building.

Source Unknown, Dates unknown

A timber waiting station was sited on the up platform, while at the bottom of the down platform was a sixteen-lever signal box. The signal box controlled access to four sidings, which included a goods loading shed and a goods loading dock. There was even a five-ton crane between two of the sidings.

A Busy Line

Before the First World War, Middleton on the Wolds Railway Station proved very popular. For example, in 1911, 89,469 tickets were sold. Middleton at that time had a population of 1,204. It makes you wonder if everyone in the village had a ride!

Train Stops and Routes

Trains stopped at Enthorpe, Middleton, Bainton, and Southburn before running to Driffield. From Driffield, most trains ran through to Bridlington. Our station was by far the busiest of these four intermediate stations.

Source unknown, date unknown

Freight and Livestock

The main freights in 1911 were barley, with 1,554 tons, and cement, with 3,155 tons. In 1913, there were 499 wagons of livestock loaded at the station. In 1940, Middleton was one of only two stations taking £1 a day, a good profit in those times. Over the year, it made £1,615 from passenger fares alone.

Walking to Catch the Train

At a time when we are being warned by the scientific community of global warming and traffic congestion is a growing problem, it is annoying to think that fifty years ago Middleton had a transport link that enabled a person in the village to make a short walk to the station and, with the necessary connections, access the national rail network. But sadly, it was lost. In her book “My Story,” Winnie Cook recalls walking across two grass fields from Lund and along the railway track to take the train to Market Weighton and then to York and onwards to Kings Cross.

Source Book My Story by Winnie Cook  Published By Author, Driffield, Yorkshire

The railway was a late arrival in Middleton, but when it appeared, it, together with the telegraph, provided a taste of the forthcoming age of communications which were to make such changes to the life of the country.

An Idyllic Scene on the Way to Catch the Train

For a description of the Station area in the early days, the following extract from a local newspaper reporter’s article of 1913 can be quoted:

“I make my way to the station. On my way I am amused at a youth feeding pigs to the accompaniment of “rag-time” music and as I stand on the station platform and view the trim and tidily kept farmstead adjoining, near the drowsy hum of the village, and watch the smoke lazily curling upwards from the many firesides, which mean as many busy housewives preparing for the return of the lord and master from the doing of his “daily round and common task,” I think how fortunate are the dwellers in this rural scene of quietude and contentment and how much nearer such a scene and state is to the divine ordination and plan of life than is the rush and scurry of city life and the “madding crowd” to which the arrival of my train bids me now return.”