Whittington railway station

For the stations in Shropshire, see Whittington High Level railway station and Whittington Low Level railway station.

Whittington
General information
Location	Chesterfield
Owned by	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Line(s)	Midland Railway
Platforms	2
Key dates
1 October 1861	Station opened
9 June 1873	Replaced by new station further north
4 February 1952	Closed to regular services
March 1977	Closed completely

North Midland Railway
72¾ Leeds (Hunslet Lane) 70¾ Hunslet (1850) 68¾ Woodlesford 66¼ Methley Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway North Eastern Railway Methley Joint Railway 64¼ Calder Viaduct Altofts and Whitwood (1870) York and North Midland Railway 63¼ Normanton Manchester and Leeds Railway 59¾ Barnsley Canal Oakenshaw for Wakefield Sandal and Walton (1870) 58¼ Chevet Tunnel 57 56 ¾ Royston and Notton ( 1st 2nd ) ( 1841–1900 1900–1968 ) 53¾ Cudworth 49¼ Darfield (2nd) (1901–1963) 48¾ Cat Hill Tunnel 48¾ Darfield (1st) (1840–1901) 47¾ Wath North 45¾ Swinton Town 43¾ Kilnhurst West Parkgate and Rawmarsh (1853) 40¾ Rotherham Masborough Sheffield and Rotherham Railway Ickles viaduct 36¾ Treeton 35¼ Woodhouse Mill 34¾ Beighton (1840-1843) 32¼ Killamarsh West 30¼ Eckington and Renishaw 27¾ Barrow Hill Whittington Tapton Junction 25 24 ¾ Chesterfield original current 20¾ Clay Cross Clay Cross Tunnel 17¾ Stretton 14¾ Wingfield 11½ Lodge Hill Tunnel Cromford Canal aqueduct 11 10½ Ambergate current original Toadmoor (Hag Wood) Tunnel Longland Tunnel 7¼ 7 Belper current original Milford Tunnel 5¼ 5 Duffield current original Nottingham Road (1856) 0¾ Derby

Whittington railway station is a former railway station on the southern edge of New Whittington, Derbyshire, England.

History

The original Whittington station was opened by the Midland Railway in 1861 to serve Old Whittington.

The station was on the North Midland Railway's "Old Road" between Chesterfield and Rotherham Masborough. The line opened in 1840 and became very busy with coal and steel traffic with a number of new branches. In 1870 the Midland opened the "New Road" through Sheffield from Tapton Junction just north of Chesterfield, diverting passenger expresses away from the Old Road.

The line through Whittington remained busy with local passengers, particularly with the rapidly expanding industry. The original station was replaced with a station 1.5 miles (2 km) further north in 1873. This 1873 station was the final Whittington station in the area.

The buildings were constructed of timber, as was the signal box, with loops to each line. For a period around 1938 there was a wagon works nearby, with a small siding.

The last regular passenger trains called on 4 February 1952, though it was used for excursions and special trains until 1967.

Passenger services

In 1922 passenger services calling at Whittington were at their most intensive, with trains serving four destinations via five overlapping routes:

• On Sundays only
  • stopping trains plied directly between Rotherham Masborough and Chesterfield (MR) via the Old Road.
• On Mondays to Saturdays three stopping services plied between Sheffield (MR) and Chesterfield
  • most ran direct down the "New Road" through Dronfield and went nowhere near Whittington.
• the other two services went the "long way round" via the "Old Road". They set off north eastwards from Sheffield (MR) towards Rotherham then swung east to go south along the Old Road
  • one of these continued north past Holmes, a short distance before Masboro' then swung hard right, next stop Treeton, then all stations, including Whittington, to Chesterfield,
  • the other continued past Attercliffe Road then swung right onto the Sheffield District Railway passing through or calling at West Tinsley and Catcliffe before Treeton, after which they called at all stations to Chesterfield.
• Also on Mondays to Saturdays two stopping services plied between Mansfield (MR) and Chesterfield via Barrow Hill
  • some ran via the circuitous Clowne Branch through Elmton and Creswell, Clown (MR) and Staveley Town
  • others ran via the equally circuitous Doe Lea Branch through Glapwell and Staveley Town. Some of these terminated at Barrow Hill, but others continued to Chesterfield, calling at Whittington.

Modern traffic

The line is now part of the current Midland Main Line. It is used predomenantly for freight, with a handful of passenger trains going the "long way round" from Chesterfield to Sheffield via the Old Road and Darnall largely to retain staff route knowledge in case of diversions.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Barrow Hill Line open, station closed		Midland Railway North Midland Railway "Old Road"		Chesterfield Line and station open

References

Sources

• Bradshaw, George (1985) [1922]. July 1922 Railway Guide. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Pixton, Bob (2001). North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route: Part 2 Chesterfield-Sheffield-Rotherham. Nottingham: Runpast Publishing, (now Book Law). ISBN 1 870754 51 4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Whittington, Barrow Hill, Staveley Works, Staveley Central and Staveley Town on old OS map: via npemaps