Poppleton Nurseries were built during the Second World War to grow vegetables for railway canteens. After the war, it served railway hotels and the hundreds of station gardens across Yorkshire and the North East. It had a railway with a narrow gauge of two feet, which brought the plants from the greenhouses to the main line. Later, a petrol-engine locomotive would shunt wagons along a short stretch of track, although often the trucks were pushed by hand.
Lister. an electric loco pictured here at Poppleton Nursery, 1988. Lister was loaned to Poppleton Nurseries in 1988, as he could fit between the greenhouses were other locos wouldn't fit. (pic wiseacres.co.uk)


Will anything remain of this historic site? It's been closed for a few years, so hopes aren't high for this one. However...



A flower truck on the turntable.


Running between the greenhouses is the track, two feet wide where trucks rolled, laden with flowers and vegetables towards the main line.


The greenhouses are in surprisingly good condition. In 1991 they were connected to electricity after nearly half a century of gas light.


More track between the greenhouses.


Inside many of the greenhouses the plants had long gone. This cactus seems to like living in here though.


A coal fired boiler, possibly part of the heating system for the greenhouses?


Next to a large (empty) water butt is one of the two remaining trucks.


The truck still rolls along the line.


The other truck on the turntable.


Today, Poppleton Nursery and railway are abandoned, with it's loco's and rolling stock sold off. Hopefully it will be bought and one day returned to it's original state.