WORK has begun to restore a grade II listed Victorian railway station nestled between a viaduct and a tunnel.

Network Rail engineers are set to spend 12 weeks repairing buildings at Northern-run Knaresborough station, which once linked Harrogate and Leeds to Thirsk and the North-East.

The work will include making the white brick 1866 station building, designed by North Eastern Railway architect Thomas Prosser, watertight. Platform canopy renovations will be carried out at night to minimise the impact on passengers on the Harrogate to York line.

Network Rail will also carry out repairs to the chimney stack on the five-sided signal box, which is also grade II listed and unusual in that it was built onto the end of a row of terraced houses.

The firm’s area director, Mark Tarry said: “Knaresborough station sits in the most beautiful surroundings and is an important gateway to the town which it serves. The building has suffered from damp which our team will be fixing as well as tidying up the outside of the building, replacing the guttering and pipes and improving the station environment for passengers."

Some of the funding for the upgrade of the unstaffed station has been provided by the Railway Heritage Trust, enabling the cosmetic improvements to be carried out at the same time as the structural work.

A trust spokesman said: “We hope, in due course, to be able to grant aid work to bring some of the empty rooms back into use.”