Restoration of Weighbridge Hut, Station Yard, Hawes
Midland style weighbridge hut,located at the joint station
of Hawes (Midland and
North Eastern Railway)
The Wensleydale Railway line built by the North Eastern Railway Company (NER) met up with a branch line to the Midland Railway’s Settle-Carlisle Line at Hawes so the station there was built as a joint project. The station, after some delays, was completed in 1878. It was designed in the Midland Railway’s ornate ‘Derby Gothic’ style with decorated wooden barge boards, pitched local sandstone walls with dressed stone quoins, lintels and window surrounds and Welsh slate roofs. On the opposite side to the main station building was a small rectangular platform shelter. The station master’s house was set some distance away to the south west of the main platform building and there is a weigh bridge building nearby.
Jack and blocks -getting the level correct
The station buildings and goods shed were extended in 1998 by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and now house Hawes National Park Centre and Dales Countryside Museum.
The floor timbers - note theweighbridge mechanism on
the right hand side
The weighbridge hut had missed out on previous conservation work until now. National Park staff and our loyal team of volunteers have begun a process of restoration - you can see the state of the hut and some of the work to date.
The original weighbridge mechanism is still in situ. We are replacing rotten timbers, but conserving as much of the original fabric as possible to retain its integrity.
