Ebberston couple awarded blue plaque for station restoration work

Mark, 67, and Carol Benson, 66, have spent tens of thousands of pounds transforming Ebbertson Station near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

The train loving duo purchased the property in 1996 just over four decades since the station closed in 1950.

And thanks to their hard work over the last three decades tourists are able once again to visit the station - now called The Old Station - similar to how it looked in the 1940s.

Visitors can even stay in one of three former British Rail Mark 2 First Class carriages - which they have transformed into accommodation - or in the converted ticket office which is now a cottage.

They also renovated the former station master's house into a family home.

In their latest project the Bensons restored the platform canopy and waiting area - which they were awarded a blue plaque for in December 2025.

It was presented by Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, the Minister of State for Rail at the National Railway Heritage Awards at The Merchant Taylors Hall in London.

Carol said: "It has been a lot of hard work.

“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."

Ebbertson Station - which is actually in the nearby village of Allerston - sits on the 16 and a quarter mile Forge Valley Line which was opened by the North Eastern Railway Company on May, 1, 1882.

The village of Ebberston is located one mile to the east of Allerston.

The last passenger train on the line ran on June 3, 1950.

It was then used as a private house until the Bensons purchased the little piece of railway history 46 years later.

Mark said they first made habitable the former master's station house which he, Carol, and their two children moved into.

He said: "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.

"Carol also didn't want to return to working at a school as a nursery nurse so it worked out well."

After they renovated the house they moved onto the railway carriages which they acquired in 1997 and then converted into self-catering accommodation.

The first was completed in 1998 - the remaining two were finished in 1999 and 2001.

In 2021 they carefully knocked down the men's bathroom and porters room to salvage the bricks which they then used to renovate the former ticket office.

The couple transformed it into a holiday cottage using the bricks to add two bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms.

The station is neither listed or in a conservation area although said to be a very good example of the work of the celebrated architect William Bell’s mature wayside station design of that period.