The
Yorkshire Dales Railway constructed the line to Grassington & Threshfield, with services operated by the
Midland Railway, to provide better links for local villages to the nearby town of
Skipton. It diverged at Embsay Junction, and ran through the
Dales, with a station at
Rylstone, past the then 'Swinden Lime Works' (today known as
Swinden Quarry), and a further to Threshfield. Despite being the line's terminus, Grassington & Threshfield was built as a through station, because there were proposals to continue the line further north up the Dales to
Kettlewell, and thence to
Leyburn, to join the line to
Hawes on the
Wensleydale Railway. That was never done. The station, which opened with the line in mid-1902, had two platforms, each with a run-round loop, and a goods shed and cattle dock with their own sidings. Another siding branched west towards
Skirethorns Quarry, ending at the rear of a set of
terraced houses known as Woodlands Terrace. Limestone was brought down from the quarry by a
tramway to Woodlands Terrace, where it was transferred to trains. On 22 September 1930, after only 28 years, the
LMS withdrew regular passenger services due to poor patronage. However, excursion traffic continued for more than 30 years thereafter, as did general goods traffic and stone traffic from the nearby quarry. The end of quarrying in the early 1960s eventually led to the complete closure of the station, and the northern end of the branch, on 11 August 1969. ==The site today==