The station is located at the northern side of the Nidd Viaduct off Station Road to the SouthWest side of Knaresborough town centre. The station is within walking distance of the town centre and the western side of Knaresborough.
History
The East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway was opened from York to a temporary terminus known as Hay Park Lane, Knaresborough on 30 October 1848. The E&WYJR was absorbed by the York and North Midland Railway on 1 July 1851. Three weeks later, with the completion of the stone viaduct crossing the River Nidd at Knaresborough on 21 July 1851, the temporary station was closed and a new Knaresborough station opened on the current site just beyond the stone viaduct. In 1865 the North Eastern Railway replaced the 1851 station with a design by Thomas Prosser. The station was rebuilt c.1890. The 1851 Water tower is still extant.
Related features
Beyond the platforms eastbound was a tunnel which separated the station from the goods yard and the line's major junction. The Knaresborough to Boroughbridge branch diverged from the main line to York opposite the goods yard. This line continued north-east until it met the East Coast Main Line between York and Northallerton at Pilmoor. The tunnel is still extant with both north and south portals are now listed structures. The station signal box is somewhat unusual in that it was built onto the end of an adjoining row of terraced houses on Kirkgate. It supervises the single line section eastwards to Cattal, an adjacent level crossing and a crossover that is used to reverse those trains from Leeds that terminate here.
Station Masters
William John Walker
John Musham ???? - 1877 - 1897
John G. Masterman 1897 - 1902
James Naylor 1902 - ????
John Dobson ca. 1910 - 1930
Thomas Wailes 1930 - 1933
Thomas H. Walls 1933 - 1936
Frederick Godfrey 1937 - 1953
E. Leaman 1953 - 1960
Facilities
The station is unstaffed, but has ticket machines available. The station buildings on the eastbound platform are in private commercial use - one of these is a cafe that is open to the public. Both platforms have shelters and are linked by subway and the level crossing. Step-free access is via separate entrances to each platform. A long line P.A system and passenger information screens are in place to provide train running details.
Future
On 5 March 2015, the Harrogate Line, amongst others in the area including the Leeds-Bradford Interchange-Halifax Line, the Selby-Hull Line and the Northallerton-Middlesbrough Line were named top priority for electrification; with an estimated cost for the Harrogate Line of £93 million with a projected cost benefit ratio of 1/1.80. No date has been set however. Money has been set aside for the doubling of the single line sections between Knaresborough and York. This will allow capacity improvements along the whole line. The projected completion date for this work is 2018.
Services
During Monday to Saturday off-peak, there is a half-hourly service to Leeds and an hourly service to York. Additional services run during weekday peak periods. During evenings there is an hourly service in each direction, whilst on Sundays there are two trains per hour to Leeds and one to York.
