Prior to the withdrawal of railway staff from Hellifield in 1970, the timber-walled extension at the northwest end of the station is known to have had at least two very different uses.
It was built by the Midland Railway Company (MRC) to provide refreshment facilities for 3rd class passengers and it's design (with two pairs of double doors and a long counter) would have enabled large numbers of customers to be served reasonably quickly. We've not yet been able to ascertain the exact date of construction, but it was some time between 1st June 1880 (when the station opened) and the end of 1913. During this period, passenger numbers grew considerably and the original refreshment room would have struggled to meet the increasing demand. Also, many influential first class passengers expected (and were willing to pay for) segregated facilities. (The MRC would have been keen to accommodate - and to generate revenue from - all classes of traveller.) To promote this important facility, a pair of very large signs were hung from the station canopy (one above each platform). These signs read "REFRESHMENTS THIRD CLASS" and they are clearly visible in a number of period photographs, including the one captioned "Hellifield Station from the north-west, including 3rd class refreshment room" in the gallery below.
At some point during the early 1920s the building ceased to be used for its original purpose. W.R. Mitchell provides us with an approximate date in the following extract from his 1984 book "Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway":
Up at the station, in 1921, the facilities included two refreshment rooms - first class and third class. In the 1920s, after the third class refreshment room had been closed, the remaining room did a brisk business. "A driver was entitled to go into the refreshment room and he could have a pint of beer and get it a penny cheaper than anywhere else!"
The structure was then slightly modified internally to provide an office for the Permanent Way Inspector. The primary evidence for this use comes from a plan produced by the London Midland & Scottish Railway (based on a 1944 survey, revised in April 1949), which depicts the space as a single room labelled "P.W. Insp r.".
During a brief visit on 29th September 2022 (courtesy of Shed24H), the interior still showed clear evidence of both of these uses.
We've also been advised that the room may have been used as a drivers' mess at some point in time.
