Stamford railway station

This article is about the British railway station. For other stations with similar names, see Stamford station (disambiguation).

Stamford
Location
Place	Stamford
Local authority	South Kesteven
Coordinates	52.6480°N 0.4798°W / 52.6480; -0.4798
Grid reference	TF029066
Operations
Station code	SMD
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2005/06 *	0.224 million
2006/07 *	0.260 million
2007/08 *	282,778
2008/09 *	321,328
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stamford from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Stamford station, 7th December 1996

Entrance to Stamford Station in summer 1991

Stamford railway station serves the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England. The station is 12.5 miles (20 km) west of Peterborough opened by the Syston and Peterborough Railway, part of the present day Birmingham to Peterborough Line. CrossCountry operate the majority of services as part of their Birmingham to Stansted Airport route. It is owned by Network Rail and operated by East Midlands Trains (EMT) train operating company (TOC).

The station was formerly known as Stamford Town to distinguish it from the now closed Stamford East station in Water Street.

The station building is a fine stone structure in Tudor style, influenced by the nearby Burghley House, and designed by Sancton Wood.

Services

From Stamford there is generally an hourly service (operated by CrossCountry) each day towards Leicester and Birmingham New Street westbound and Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport eastbound as well as additional PM peak hour services.

Services westbound to Birmingham go via Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, Narborough, Hinckley, Nuneaton and Coleshill. Services eastbound to Stansted Airport or Cambridge call at Peterborough, March, Ely and Audley End.

Despite managing the station, East Midlands Trains only operates three daily services to the station (mainly for train crew route knowledge purposes); two early morning services to Norwich and a late night service to Nottingham.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Oakham		CrossCountry Birmingham-Stansted Airport		Peterborough
Oakham Limited Service		East Midlands Trains Nottingham-Norwich (via Loughborough) Limited Service

Development

Birmingham - Stansted Airport Service

Legend Birmingham New Street Water Orton to Derby Coleshill Parkway Nuneaton West coast main line Hinckley Narborough South Wigston Syston Leicester Midland main line Melton Mowbray Oakham to London St Pancras. Stamford Peterborough East coast main line Whittlesea March Manea to Kings Lynn to Norwich Ely to Ipswich Waterbeach to Ipswich Cambridge to London Kings Cross Shelford Whittlesford Great Chesterford Audley End Stansted Airport to London Liverpool Street

Central Trains undertook internal modifications and refurbishment to the ticket office and booking hall towards the end of their franchise. Network Rail also invested £500,000 on refurbishment of the station building, modern lighting, overbridge and foot crossing to further update the station in late 2007.

In late July 2008, Network Rail was granted listed building consent to make alterations to the Grade II listed station building to enable larger freight trains of W10 loading gauge to travel on the Peterborough to Nuneaton route. This will involve changes to the platform alignment and the platform canopy and a temporary platform will be provided during the works.

It is planned that both platforms will be extended by up to 5 metres by no later than 2012.

History

Openings

Opened by the Midland Railway on its Syston and Peterborough Railway, train services began on 2 October 1846 on the Peterborough to Stamford section, using a temporary station in Water Street, as the tunnel was not complete. The permanent station opened along with through services to Leicester on 20 March 1848.

The London and North Western Railway opened their single track branch line from Rugby via Market Harborough on 2 June 1851. This actually joined the Midland line at Luffenham, but trains generally worked through to Stamford and terminated in the LNWR bay, platform 3, the far side of the current Leicester platform, which is now disused and filled in.

In 1863, the weekday train service comprised 5 each way per day on the Peterborough - Stamford - Leicester route, 3 each way per day on the Stamford - Market Harborough - Rugby route, and 1 each way per day on the Stamford - Market Harborough - Northampton route, including through coaches to London Euston, then known as Euston Square.

The LNWR Rugby line was double tracked in 1878, but in 1879 the LNWR built a new line from Seaton to Wansford on their existing Peterborough to Northampton Nene valley line, and from this time, Rugby to Peterborough was operated as the main line and the Stamford to Seaton section became a branch line, and was singled again in 1907.

Closures

Through Services from Stamford Town in 1922

Legend Humberstone Road Leicester London Rd Syston Rearsby Brooksby Frisby Asfordby to Nottingham GN&LNWR Melton Mowbray Saxby to M&GNR Whissendine Ashwell Oakham to Market Harborough Manton Seaton to Uppingham to Kettering Morcott to Wansford Luffenham Ketton & Collyweston Stamford Town Stamford East to Essendine to Wansford Uffington & Barnack to Wansford Helpston Walton GNR main line Peterborough North Peterborough East to March

When Stamford East station closed in 1957, the Stamford to Essendine services were diverted to Town station, but these services ceased in 1959. Some minor stations on the Midland line closed in the 1950s and 1960s and the remaining village stations such as Helpston and Ketton & Collyweston closed in 1966, along with the Seaton branch line from Luffenham.

1970s

With the end of steam traction, the service in the 1970s and early 1980s generally comprised a stopping service formed of 2-car DMU's running between Peterborough and Leicester every two hours, supplemented by a two or three times a day Peterborough to Stamford shuttle service. There was also a four or five times daily through Birmingham to Norwich service usually formed by a Class 31 with four or five Mark 1 coaches, these services generally ran non-stop between Peterborough and Leicester.

1980s

General goods services in Stamford finished in the late 1960s but the coal yard remained in use until 16 May 1983.

When the coal yard closed, the opportunity was also taken to close the signal box. All pointwork was removed and mechanical signals were replaced by colour lights controlled by Ketton signal box. Ketton signal box was retained due to the need to monitor the level crossing. With no crossover, the Peterborough to Stamford shuttles were for a time reversed at Ketton, before being withdrawn altogether.

With the line to the bay platform lifted, the bay was filled in to form a flowerbed.

1990s

In the late 1990s the toilets were closed, having been the subject of vandalism and variously available since the 1960s. The ticket office is only open in the mornings. The small bicycle rack outside the station was removed.

Summary of former train services

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Ketton & Collyweston		Midland Railway Leicester to Peterborough		Uffington & Barnack
Ketton & Collyweston		London and North Western Railway Seaton branch		Terminus

Timetable for February 1863

The table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in February 1863.

Departure	Going to	Calling at	Arrival	Operator
06.45	London Euston Square	Luffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Kelmarsh, Lamport, Brixworth, Brampton, Northampton Castle. Through coaches to Blisworth, Wolverton, Camden, London Euston Square	10.30	LNWR
07.10	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whisendine, Saxby, Melton, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester	09.10	MR
07.30	Rugby	Luffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby	09.15	LNWR
09.03	Peterborough Great Eastern	Uffington & Barnack, Helpstone, Walton, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern	09.40	MR
10.00	Rugby	Luffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby	11.45	LNWR
10.47	Peterborough Great Eastern	Helpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern	11.20	MR
10.52	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Saxby, Melton, Syston, Leicester	12.20	MR
13.10	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Melton, Brooksby, Syston, Leicester	14.40	MR
14.11	Peterborough Great Eastern	Helpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern	14.40	MR
16.23	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whisendine, Saxby, Melton, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester	18.15	MR
16.45	Rugby	Luffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby	18.35	LNWR
16.47	Peterborough Great Eastern	Uffington & Barnack, Helpstone, Walton, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern	17.25	MR
20.44	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Saxby, Melton, Brooksby, Syston, Leicester	22.25	MR
21.52	Peterborough Great Eastern	Helpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern	22.20	MR

Timetable for July 1922

The table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in July 1922.

Departure	Going to	Calling at	Arrival	Operator
07.35	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	08.03	LNWR
08.20	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester	10.03	MR
08.53	Peterborough East	Uffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	09.33	MR
09.08	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	09.33	LNWR
09.39	Oakham	Ketton, Luffenham, Oakham	10.08	MR
10.41	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Leicester	11.56	MR
10.43	Peterborough East	Uffington & Barnack, Helpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	11.20	MR
11.35	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	12.01	LNWR
11.46	Peterborough East	Peterborough North, Peterborough East	12.13	MR
12.33	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Leicester	14.00	MR
13.55	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	14.20	LNWR
14.30	Peterborough East	Uffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	15.08	MR
16.02	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Syston, Leicester	17.32	MR
16.15	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	16.40	LNWR
17.01	Peterborough East	Uffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	17.37	MR
17.38	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester	19.13	MR
17.48	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	18.11	LNWR
18.31	Peterborough East	Helpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	19.02	MR
19.43	Peterborough East	Helpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East	20.20	MR
19.55	Seaton	Ketton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton	20.20	LNWR
20.45	Leicester	Ketton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Melton Mowbray, Syston, Leicester	22.08	MR
22.40	Peterborough East	Peterborough North, Peterborough East	20.20	MR

External links

• Train times and station information for Stamford railway station from National Rail