Plan to turn railway carriages into holiday accommodation at the old Sandsend station

Rail enthusiasts could soon have the opportunity to spend the night sleeping in a train carriage positioned on a stretch of a disused railway near Whitby.
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The Mulgrave Estate has submitted an application to Scarborough Council to use two carriages located at the former Sandsend Station on Lythe Bank as tourist accommodation.

In the application documents, it gives details of what the accommodation would look like.

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It states: “The proposal is to clear the existing scrub from the site and stand two railway carriages at the end of the former Station Platform adjacent to The Station House in Sandsend.

The former station at SandsendThe former station at Sandsend
The former station at Sandsend

“The carriages will be used for holiday accommodation which will complement the Estate’s existing holiday cottage business, by providing an additional form of accommodation which provides a unique opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the site’s former railway heritage.”

The Station House is located to the south of the site and is owned by the Mulgrave Estate.

It is split into two dwellings with part of it used as a holiday cottage and the southern part of the building is in residential use and known as Station House.

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Nearby is a WWII disguised pillbox that was built to defend the Sandsend viaduct.

The Pullman-style carriage.The Pullman-style carriage.
The Pullman-style carriage.

Sandsend Station opened in 1883 as part of the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway but closed in 1958.

The application site is at the end of the former station platform.

The planning documents add: “The carriages will be used together and there will be a set of metal steps and short gantry that will allow for access to them. There will be no direct access between the carriages.

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“One carriage interior has already been converted into two bedrooms and bathroom. The other carriage will be used for storage (bicycles, luggage, surfboards, garden furniture etc) and is currently not converted internally.

“The carriages will sit on a railway track made up of sleepers placed on top of the existing platform.”

The first carriage will be a Pullman-style former passenger carriage. The second carriage is of a different style known as a “plank truck” which were traditionally used for transporting stone and coal.

The plans are now out to consultation.

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