Transport

Railway

The Selby to Market Weighton line opened on 1^st August 1848. The relatively short stretch of this railway line that passed through Osgodby had a very troubled history, which began even before the first spade had been placed in the ground.

Research in the East Riding Archives revealed correspondence between George Pelsant Dawson Esq, Lord of the Manor at Osgodby Hall, and the York and North Midland Railway Company (YNMR) in the summer of 1847, together with newspaper reports in July 1848

In January 1847, the railway company wished to compulsory purchase 11 acres 1 rood and 4 perches and requested G P Dawson to give details of his estate and the price he was willing to receive for the land. He offered to sell 30 acres of land, but the YNMR was unable to do so and offered £1500. When he realised they only wanted 11 acres 1 rood and 4 perches he proposed a price of £3000. G P Dawson indicated he would only sell the land if it was to be used for a station . YNMR could not give assurance to the request and came to no agreement, and advised G P Dawson should refer it to arbitration. Some time afterward, Mr Dawson re-calculated the value of the land to £7000 on the basis he had discovered the land contained a depth of good quality sand. The arbitration process set the cost at £4812. The YNMR were dissatisfied with the award and took the case to the Queen’s Bench who upheld the arbitration. Further litigation followed, and eventually a land surveyor re-assessed the value of the land, and finally set the price paid to George P. Dawson at £2100. Mr. Dawson then made a complaint about the railway company trespassing on the land, for which the courts awarded him £10 damages.

The opening of Cliff Common Railway Station, one and a half miles from Osgodby, gave an opportunity for the Osgodby Estate and village farmers to connect to the wider railway network to move their produce

Once the land was officially acquired and the railway built, the line through Osgodby saw a number of tragic deaths and injuries in the just over 100 years that it was actively open. This was due in large part to the local residents walking alongside the rail track as a short cut, rather than taking the longer roads and paths between the village and Selby.

A curious incident that occurred on the line made it into the local newspapers. While passing Lund Crossing, just to the north east of the village, goods guard William Lumley reported that a missile had passed through the rear window of his van, close to his face, and exited through an open doorway. He assumed it was a bullet, but the noise of the train made it impossible to say if a firearm had been discharged while the train passed Lund. It was acknowledged in the article that the round hole left in the window may have come from a pellet or stone fired by a catapult.

The line was closed to passengers in 1954, though some sections were used for excursion trains until at least 1957. The line was closed completely on 27^th January 1964, with the tracks removed sometime in 1969.

A ‘railway walk’ was first proposed by site owners NYCC in 1984, but the suggested diversion of the existing public footpath (Lund village to Sand Lane) never happened.

Barlby and Osgodby Parish Council bought the Lund Lane to Sand Lane end section in 1987 to become a nature reserve. It was then named the ‘old railway walk’. Between 2000 and 2001 they obtained the Hull Road to Sand Lane segment, completing the current walk.

The redundant railway bridge on the A63 between the village and neighbouring Lund was demolished in the early 1990s. There was a question on the bridge recorded in Hansard, the official journal of all House of Commons business, on 26^th February 1991 (Volume 186). Then Selby MP Michael Allison asked the Secretary of State for Transport (Malcolm Rifkind MP) if there were any plans for the demolition of the bridge. He got a reply from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Christopher Chope MP) that it had been added to the Department’s regional scheme of works.

Osgodby Bypass

Osgodby bypass was opened in the 1920s, it is the short piece of straight road between the A63 junction with Bennymoor Lane/Sand Lane and its junction with Cliffe Road. Before its construction the main road followed a route through the village and past the Wadkin Arms. In 1936 the this stretch of road, and through the village and Barlby, became the A63 Trunk Road, by virtue of the Trunk Roads Act 1936

In 2002, proposals were put forward to bypass Osgodby altogether, with a stretch of road between Bridge Farm and a new roundabout, to be built as part of the Selby bypass, near the Pickle Factory and Powder Magazine. The bypass was to alleviate traffic queues in the village and reduce accidents at the A19/A63 junction. After consultation on the 2 proposed routes, approval was given and funding allocated. However, the road was never built as the Highways Agency withdrew funding in 2006, citing an increase in construction costs from £2.8m to £4.7m.

In 2012 funding was approved for the construction of a roundabout at the A19/A63 junction. The work was expected to take 22 weeks, with 10 weeks of road closure and 12 weeks of temporary traffic lights. Work started in March 2013 and was completed, earlier than anticipated, in May 2013 taking only 11 weeks. During this time this stretch of the A19 was closed with no access to Osgodby and traffic being diverted through Barlby. Osgodby residents had to take a route along South Duffield Road, Cliffe Road, Market Weighton Road (A163) and through Barlby to get to Selby and vice versa. Moor (Pigeon) Lane was closed, except for farm access, to prevent it being used as a short cut, and police regularly patrolled the Lane, turning back anyone they caught with a warning that penalties would be issued next time.