This article was originally written by Charlie Fenton for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
The Ebberston Station in Allerston, England, closed in 1950, and was purchased in 1996 by train-loving couple Mark and Carol Benson. Now, 30 years and tens of thousands of dollars later, the historical station has been returned to its former glory.
Thanks to the couple’s hard work, tourists are once again able to see the property, now called The Old Station, similar to how it looked in the 1940s. Visitors can even stay in the three former British Rail Mark 2 first class carriages or in the converted ticket office, which is now a cottage. They also renovated the former station master’s house into a family home.
Most recently, the Bensons restored the platform canopy and waiting area, and on Dec. 3, they were awarded a blue plaque for the project, presented at the National Railway Heritage Awards in London.
Ebberston Station sits on the 16.25-mile-long Forge Valley Line, which was opened by the North Eastern Railway Company on May 1, 1882. The village of Ebberston is located one mile east of Allerston.
The station is said to be a very good example of celebrated architect William Bell’s mature wayside station design of that period. The last passenger train on the line ran June 3, 1950. It was then used as a private house until the Bensons purchased the little piece of railway history.
“We always had the idea of running a business that would enable me to continue working full time as a quantity surveyor until I could retire,” Mark, 67, told SWNS. “Carol also didn’t want to return to working at a school as a nursery nurse, so it worked out well.”
The first part the couple made habitable was the former master’s station house, which they then moved into with their two children. After renovating the house, they moved onto the railway cars, which they acquired in 1997 and then converted into self-catering accommodations. The first was completed in 1998, and the remaining two were finished in 1999 and 2001.
In 2021, they carefully knocked down the men’s bathroom and porters’ room, salvaging bricks that were later used to transform the former ticket office into a vacation cottage with two added bedrooms and en-suite shower rooms.
“It has been a lot of hard work,” said Carol, 66. “There has always been something to do, and even though we think we have finished, we probably haven’t. We are very proud of what we have achieved.”
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