THE train standing at Thirsk railway station wasn't allowed in the posh parts of Harrogate. The wealthy residents didn't want the smoke from the coal fires to dirty their spa town by calling there.

This is just one of the many interesting facts Jane Barstow discovered when she started compiling a potted history of the little-known Leeds-Thirsk railway line.

"I agreed to write a chapter for our village millennium book here in Wath where I live, but became fascinated with the history," she said.

A retired primary teacher specialising in geography, Miss Barstow has always been interested in railways. Her grandfather was an engine driver. His family went to South Africa to organise the railway there.

She has travelled to many countries to see other railways, has lived in New Zealand and travelled extensively in Canada.

She has read 20 books and publications to link all the pieces of the Leeds-Thirsk jigsaw together.

What started out as a chapter of potted history turned into a mammoth task delving into railway history. The result of that work is now, she hopes, to be turned into a book.

The knowledge she has gained is being put to good use. She is in demand to lecture about the line by various organisations.

The first Leeds to Thirsk railway went via Bramhope, Weeton and then Starbeck "because Harrogate didn't want the dirty, smelly trains travelling through", said Miss Barstow.

It then went on to Wormald Green, Ripon, Wath and round to Thirsk.

This was in 1845, after it was built by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company. The 39 miles of double track cost £1,186,000 - three times more than the building of the two miles longer York to Darlington line, because the engineering feat was much more of a challenge over the difficult terrain.

The idea of building a line was to send coal from the Middleton collieries at Leeds and take back agricultural goods from Thirsk, or Carlton station as it was then called.

"Investigating why the rail line to Thirsk was built, as it did seem a little odd, I discovered that originally it had been intended to canalise Cod Beck to the River Swale. If you look behind the library in Thirsk, you can still see the wharf which was built by the bridge. But this project was cancelled - and the rail line took over.

"The line between Thirsk and Wath caused a bitter row with George Hudson, the main railway builder in the area, who lived at nearby Newby Park, near Baldersby. The trains went past at the bottom of his garden, and not owning this one, he didn't like it."

The train replaced the stagecoaches, the Red Rovers which left Leeds at 10am for Newcastle via Harrogate, Ripon, and Yorkgate on the Great North Road, a further 1 miles to Wath and then up to Darlington, Durham and Newcastle, arriving about 8pm.

In 1844, the Leeds-Newcastle stagecoach made a new move. Instead of taking the road to Yorkgate, it continued westwards to Thirsk and left Newcastle passengers at George Hudson's Carlton station on the York-Darlington line, to catch a train onwards.

"This is what I believe triggered the idea to build the Thirsk line," Miss Barstow said. "It must have been a great advertisement for the line when, while waiting at Yorkgate for fresh horses for the stagecoach, you could watch the new-fangled steel railway train race at 30mph across the fields. Many would try a ride, no doubt, on their next trip north or south."

The whole project was completed in four years despite difficult engineering and major rivers - the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Aire and Wharfe. To cross the watershed between the Aire and Wharfe, a tunnel more than two miles long was built.

"Twenty-three people died during its construction, quite a lot when the line was only 39 miles long."

Goods traffic travelled the line at first to bed down the track before passenger trains were introduced in 1848. From May 31, Wath villagers could catch a train to either Ripon or Thirsk. For some reason, the station at Wath became known in 1852 as Melmerby.

The station and terminus for the Leeds-Thirsk railway line and goods yard was in the middle of the town on a site which is now occupied by the Tesco extension.

Miss Barstow persuaded the store's directors to erect a brass plaque to commemorate the fact.

"I was sitting in the car park one day and saw the old railway station walls being pulled down and realised that workmen were going to wipe out all that remained of the station. The manager, when told about the station, said that this explained the massive circle found in the goods yard, the foundations of the turntable.

Miss Barstow explained that the huge viaduct over the river at Ripon was originally a timber structure. The various section of the lines being built were eventually linked and in on July 9, 1849, the stockholders made the journey from Leeds to Thirsk and back.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Wath had been using the line for over a year, although many could not afford the 2d (1p) per mile ticket.

"For three old pennies, though, you could have the thrill of a day out to Ripon, really mind-blowing," Miss Barstow added.

Discovering all this and far more information didn't finish off the story for her.

"What puzzled me was how the builders got the engine and carriages from the manufacturers in Leeds to Ripon and Thirsk. They could, I suppose, have been carried by canal but I think this unlikely. I think they must have been transported by horse and cart in pieces and then built on site."

Miss Barstow's research took her down many different avenues. And she unearthed four other lines from different locations and travelling in different directions.

"I discovered plans to build a fifth line from Wath to Bedale and up Wensleydale. It is not clear why the project folded, with only a couple of miles of trackbed laid.

"The line is almost invisible at ground level, but it ran close to Kirklington Grange and across the Thirsk-Masham road.

"I have aerial photographs in my possession on which the elusive line can be seen quite clearly. It is still possible to walk the green and leafy section of the Masham line on the outskirts of the village which throws up the occasional piece of railway coal."

The Thirsk line closed to passengers in 1955, but it remained a goods line until 1959. The goods line from Melmerby (Wath) to Masham continued until 1970.

Gas lamps, the mainstay of Victorian railway stations, never reached Wath (Melmerby). Instead, the platforms were lit by oil lamps right through to its closure. The station had been open for 121 years.

"Wath station was eventually wiped from railway maps. To the east and west on the old line, a short row of railway houses had been built. These houses, somewhat altered, remain today."

The railway lines vanished quickly, and the old signal box was demolished. It was a few more years before the platforms vanished too. All that remains of the line is the old level crossing house, and the bridge parapets.

"Researching the railway line has proved to be a time consuming hobby I can't leave alone and my work continues. By now, not many people in Wath and Melmerby do not realise that the railway line existed."