Special-purpose railway stations in the United Kingdom
Appearance
This article lists special-purpose railway stations, i.e. those which meet one or more of these criteria:
- cannot be accessed by the public from the street;
- can only be accessed from private land;
- can only be accessed by appointment;
- only serve a particular venue, such as a factory, harbour or stadium; or
- are not listed in the public timetable, or provide service on event-days only.
It also lists closed stations that satisfied one or more of these criteria when open, and stations which at some point in their history satisfied one or more of the criteria.
List
Station | Open? | Year of closure | Always/still special purpose? | Criteria[note 1] | Notes | Citation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No public access? | Private land? | Appointment only? | One venue only? | Omitted from timetable/event day service? | ||||||
Kempton Park | Open | — | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Serves Kempton Park Racecourse which it gets its name from. Has had a regular service since 2006. | [1] |
Lympstone Commando | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Used for visitors to the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre and not open to the general public | [2] | ||
Singer | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Built to serve the Singer's sewing machine factory which now no longer exists but keeps its name. Now has a regular service. | |||
Smallbrook Junction | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Built as a connection to two railways with no actual entrance to the station. This is the only station in the UK that has been built for this purpose. | |||
Stanlow and Thornton | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Built to serve Stanlow Oil Refinery | |||
Aintree Racecourse | Closed | 1962 | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Built to serve Aintree Racecourse | [3] |
Ampress Works Halt | 1989 | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Served the Wellworthy works near Lymington, Hampshire | [4] | |
Ardeer Platform | 1966 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | ? | Built to serve the ICI Nobel Explosives Factory in Stevenston, North Ayrshire. Platforms still exist. | ||
Bogside | 1967 | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Built to serve the former Bogside Racecourse in Irvine, and also Bogside Golf Club | ||
Boothferry Park Halt | 1986 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Served Boothferry Park football stadium, Hull | [5] | |
Dover Western Docks | 1994 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | |||
Filey Holiday Camp | 1977 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Closed due to more people using cars | ||
Folkestone Harbour | 2001 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Line officially closed in 2014 | ||
IBM | 2018 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Opened to serve a large facility owned by IBM that employed 4,000 at the time of opening but today much of the site has been sold off to other companies. | ||
Manchester United Football Ground | 2018 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Built outside of the Old Trafford stadium and was only open on match days | ||
Meadowbank Stadium | 1998 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Opened to serve the Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh | ||
Newhaven Marine | 2006 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Served the Ferry Terminal but closed due to more people using cars and the closeness of Newhaven Harbour station. Officially closed 2020. | ||
New Holland Pier | 1981 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Was built the serve the ferry service over the Humber to Hull. Closed when the Humber bridge opened and the ferry service ceased. | [6] | |
Ramsline Halt | 1997 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Served the Baseball Ground, Derby but closed when Derby County F.C. to a new stadium | ||
Redcar British Steel | 2019 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Built to serve the nearby Teesside Steelworks site. Services suspended in 2019. | ||
Rowntree Halt | 1988 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Opened for the workers who worked at the Rowntree's factory in York. Officially closed in 1989. | ||
Ruddington Factory Halt | 1948 | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Built to serve the Ruddington Ordnance & Supply Depot | [7] | |
Tilbury Riverside | 1992 | Yes | ? | ? | No | Yes | No | [8] | ||
Sinfin North | 1993 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Served the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby. Not officially closed until 1998, with a replacement taxi service being provided in the interim. | ||
Watford Stadium Halt | 1996 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Served Vicarage Road, the home stadium of Watford F.C., was only open on match days, saw its last train when a road widening scheme severed the line, and was officially closed in 2003 | [9] | |
Weymouth Quay | 1987 | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Visited by one-off charter service in 1999 | [10] |
Notes
- ^ In the case of a station which was at some point special-purpose, but is not now (or was not at some point in its life), the criteria refer to when the station was special-purpose.
References
- ^ "South West Trains > Improved services at new-look Kempton Park". web.archive.org. February 23, 2009.
- ^ Colin Maggs (2016), "Hospital and Other Special Stations", Maggs's Railway Curiosities, Amberley, p. 95, ISBN 9781445652665
- ^ http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/a/aintree_racecourse/index.shtml
- ^ Croughton, G.; Kidner, R.W.; Young, A. (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations. Trowbridge, Wilts: Oakwood Press. p. 124. ISBN 0-85361-281-1.
- ^ "Hull City | Club | Boothferry Park | A History of Boothferry Park". web.archive.org. February 13, 2010.
- ^ http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/new_holland_pier/
- ^ http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/ruddington_factory_halt/index.shtml
- ^ http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/t/tilbury_riverside/index.shtml
- ^ http://www.westwatfordhistorygroup.org/watfordtocroxleygreen.htm
- ^ "'Olympic' train line may be lost". January 30, 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.