Goathland (Incline Top) Railway Station
Whitby and Pickering Railway (1836-45)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Ash_Tree_Cottage.jpg/220px-Ash_Tree_Cottage.jpg)
Little is known about what facilities the horse-worked W&P provided at Goathland, they did build an 'overseers cottage' at the head of the incline, that cottage survives, now known as 'Ash Tree Cottage', it is probably the only surviving inhabited W&P structure which is now a grade II listed building that passed into private ownership in 1913.
The incline was built with a 1-in-15 gradient to the design of the W&P's Engineer George Stephenson and was self-acting with the descending traffic hauling up the ascending traffic. The descending coach or wagons was given additional weight by means of a wheeled water butt, which was filled before descending, then drained at the bottom and returned to the top with the next ascending load. The machinery for working the inclined plane was obtained from Robert Stephenson at a cost of £135 14s 6d. The original rope for the incline manufactured by Mr. Henry Simpson was 1,500 yards long and 5.5 inches in circumference.
The W&P built a stable 'at the top of Goathland Inclined Plane', the directors accepting a tender from a Mr. Langdale of £230. The York & North Midland Railway (Y&NM) replaced the water gravity system with a stationary steam engine in 1846.
Preservation
A historic Rail Trail follows the original alignment gives away the one-time presence of a railway. A track traces the original rail alignment, the former W&P cottage remains at the top of the incline.