Tadcaster - York Road
For a short period of time in the mid-19th Century, the East Coast Main Line route from York to Doncaster went by way of Ulleskelf, Church Fenton, Burton Salmon and Knottingley. The pre-eminence of this route lasted a mere twenty one years from its completion in 1850 until the North Eastern Railway opened the more direct route via Selby in 1871. Had the Selby line not been built, why did the main line serve the comparatively minor villages of Church Fenton and Ulleskelf while providing a mere branch for the prosperous brewery town of Tadcaster? What if the line had, instead, swung slightly westwards after passing Sherburn to a station on the eastern skirts of the town - still supplying a branch to Wetherby and Harrogate - before concluding its journey to York? This is the question this layout seeks to answer.
