Permission is being sought to demolish a unique piece of York’s railway history.
Homes England and Network Rail want to pull down the Fire House Building on Cinder Lane, close to the National Railway Museum.
It would make way for a vehicle route needed for the first stage of building York Central, plans for which were approved in December 2019.
The Fire House was built some time between 1909 and 1928 to house the engines and equipment for the North Eastern Railway (NER) fire brigade.
“Former employee accounts of the Goods Station on the same website suggest that the Fire House became the Garage for the Regional Civil Engineers car, and similar accounts at the National Railway Museum suggest it was used in the 1970s as a sighting equipment store for the Civil Engineers department,” a building report says.
While it is of historical interest, it is not listed.
The Conservation Areas Advisory Panel suggested that the building could be dismantled and rebuilt “for re-use perhaps somewhere like North Yorkshire Moors Railway”.
But a letter submitted to York planners says: “The applicant has approached a significant number of organisations and rail heritage groups over the past two years to offer to relocate the property.
“However there has been no interest shown in reusing the building.”
You can read the planning application here.
