A SEASIDE train station dating back nearly 180 years has been returned to its former glory.
The train station in North Yorkshire has undergone a massive £3.6 million restoration project – and it’s just minutes away from the traditional seaside towns of Scarborough and Bridlington.
Sitting on the North Yorkshire coast, the town has been one of the most popular seaside destinations in England for decades.
In the 60s and 70s, it welcomed thousands of tourists every year to Billy Butlin’s campsite, one of the earliest holiday camps in the UK.
Nestled between Scarborough and Bridlington, in its heyday Filey pulled in more than 150,000 guests every year.
Holidaymakers at the hugely popular resort enjoyed swimming, sunbathing, dancing and amusement arcades.
In the evening, if they hadn’t retired to their chalets, they were treated to entertainment from the famous Red Coats.
The Butlin’s campsite was so popular that it had its own branch and station on the north east railway.
Despite its popularity, it was no match for the boom in affordable trips to the Spanish Costas in the 1970s.
It was shut in 1983 and by 2001 it resembled a ghost town with the shells of abandoned cabins and drained swimming pools filled with rubbish.
While the once-thriving Butlin’s resort has now been transformed into a £25 million coastal holiday village with pools, saunas, an arcade, and spa, there are still signs of nostalgia in the town for the casual visitor – none more so than at the recently revamped train station.
Main features such as the lantern roof at the station have been reinstated to what they would have looked like when it first opened in 1846.
This includes extensive glazing and tile work and adding safe walkways for easier maintenance.
The huge restoration project, which was backed by the Railway Heritage Trust, also includes improvements to the café, toilets, drainage, and in the train shed – including two ornate cast iron windows.
Network Rail has worked with partners on the refurbishment of the Grade II-listed building.
Jake Walton, Network Rail senior asset engineer, said: “Seaside stations like Filey hold a special place in the hearts of people from much further afield than their towns – being closely linked to generations of memories of days out.
“We’re delighted to have completed a wide-ranging suite of improvements here at Filey which protect the building as a piece of railway heritage while making the station fit for modern passenger use, and for generations to come.”
David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said it was “great to see a building with such heritage be looked after to make sure that families and friends can come together on our beautiful coastline for another 180 years”.
The Railway Heritage Trust backed the project with contributions totalling £53,000 for restoration of the train shed windows and roofs of the ancillary buildings.
Tim Hedley-Jones, Railway Heritage Trust executive director, said the station, built by renowned North-Eastern railway architect GT Andrews, “is still fulfilling the role for which it was built”.
He added: “It retains its original character as a railway station from the first half of the 19th century.”