J BEISLY got the reason for Haxby station’s closure completely wrong when he blamed it on car usage (Letters, April 9). Haxby station lost its regular passenger service in 1939 when Haxby was just a tiny village and there were very few cars around. It however remained open for goods and occasional excursion traffic until the 1960s.

In the same letters section, K Bowker also suggests reopening branch lines which seems like a good idea until you see that many trackbeds have been sold off and built upon. Whilst I would like to see Haxby station reopened along with other local stations in the York area and some old railway lines which should never have been closed, I realise this in many cases would be difficult and in some cases impossible.

How many people realise that when they are travelling along the link road between New Earswick and Huntington, they are on the trackbed of the York to Hull via Pocklington line and the Flag & Whistle pub is on the site of New Earswick Station closed by Beeching in 1965?

Ian Foster Hawthorne Avenue, Haxby.