Loftus railway station, Yorkshire

For the station in Sydney, see Loftus railway station, Sydney. For the station in Macau, see Lotus station.

Loftus, previously Lofthouse,^[1] was a railway station on the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway (WR&MU). It was opened on 1 April 1875 as the terminus of a line from Saltburn, and served the town of Loftus.^[2] When the line to Whitby was opened on 3 December 1883, it became a through station with two platforms and a goods yard consisting of three sidings, and a water tank capable of holding 9,000 imperial gallons (41,000 L; 11,000 US gal).^[3] The cost of converting the terminal station into a through station was £950 (equivalent to £121,000 in 2023).^[4] The station was poorly sited as it was not near the town centre, and the road through Loftus town passed through an adjacent valley away from the station.^[5]

Loftus
Site of the former station with stationmaster's house, 2009
General information
Location	Loftus, Redcar and Cleveland England
Coordinates	54.552236°N 0.894000°W / 54.552236; -0.894000
Grid reference	NZ716180
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1875	Opened
1960	Closed to passengers
Location

Though the WR&MU line closed in 1958, Loftus returned to being a terminus, with a diesel service to Guisborough and Middlesbrough for two years until it closed to passenger traffic on 2 May 1960 and goods traffic on 12 August 1963.^[6][7] The tracks through the station were lifted in 1964.^[8]

Though a single track was relaid from Skinningrove by 1 April 1974 to allow freight trains to reach Boulby Mine, the station remains closed, and most buildings have been demolished. The stationmaster's house is now a private residence, the large brick-build goods shed also remains standing.^[7]