A report on York and Doncaster branch, Selby Diversion and Hull and Selby Railway

A connection to Cottingham, Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington was made in 1846 with the opening of the Hull and Selby Railway (Bridlington Branch), now part of the Yorkshire Coast Line; a new 4½ mile route into Hull was opened in 1848, along with a new main station, Hull Paragon; a connection to Market Weighton from Barlby near Selby was made in 1848 (closed 1954, see Selby to Driffield Line); an urban branch line terminating in east Hull, the Victoria Dock Branch Line was opened in 1853 (closed 1968); a connection at Gilberdyke onto the Hull and Doncaster Railway passing via Goole was made in 1863; and in 1871 North Eastern Railway's York and Doncaster branch opened in 1871, with its northern half branching from the line towards York just east of Selby.

In the 1970s, a plan for extracting the coal from underneath the northern section of the line between Selby and York, led to British Rail building an avoiding line, the Selby Diversion, which fully opened to traffic in October 1983.

The line then runs southeast to a junction with the former York and Doncaster branch Line (Selby to Doncaster section), joining the line at a junction near the village of Temple Hirst, just south of its crossing of the River Aire.

The route then used the Hull and Selby line across the River Ouse on Selby Swing Bridge and into Selby railway station.

The new line also avoided the speed restriction over the swing bridge at Selby.

The Selby-York section of the York and Doncaster branch closed after the opening of the Selby Diversion of the ECML (1983); as a result of the new route the Selby swing bridge ceased to be crossed by ECML trains.