Belper railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belper
Belper station, 2005
Location
Place	Belper
Local authority	Amber Valley
Operations
Station code	BLP
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Platforms in use	2
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	77,856
2005/06 *	74,449
History
Key dates	Opened 1840
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 passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Belper from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Belper railway station is a railway station serving the town of Belper in Derbyshire. The station is located on the Midland Main Line from Derby to Leeds.

[edit] History

After leaving the Milford Tunnel the train crosses the river before entering Belper. The line was surveyed by George Stephenson for the North Midland Railway Company, and opened in 1840. The original intention was to proceed along the western bank of the River Derwent opposite the town, but Jedediah Strutt, who by then had become the primary landowner, wished it to be out of sight. Moreover, he feared that it would interfere with the supply of water to the mills. The railway, therefore, was built through a long cutting, at enormous (and unexpected) expense, with twelve bridges in the space of a mile. The cutting, lined with gritstone, is now a grade 2 listed building.

The original station was built on the south side of Belper, just before the cutting, designed by Francis Thompson in an Italianate design. A coach, or omnibus, ran regularly to it from the Lion Hotel in Bridge Street. However this proved so unpopular that the Midland Railway built a new station in 1878 within the cutting, at the town centre, next to King Street.

This had platforms with access ramps for each of the two lines, both provided with waiting rooms, in the standard Midland Railway design. The booking office and other facilities were at street level.

North of Belper, the engineers paid the penalty of following a river valley, with two long bridges over Belper Pool, plus two more, before reaching Ambergate.

[edit] Present day

In 1973 the station buildings were demolished. The bridge carrying King Street over the line was widened for a supermarket to be built by Fine Fare (now Somerfield).

The station is unmanned and operated by East Midlands Trains. Access is either through a narrow alleyway from King Street, or from the Field Lane car park and across the rear of the supermarket. For journeys beginning at Belper, tickets may be bought on the train for any destination in the country. (From Derby, tickets must be bought at the ticket office) Journey time to Derby is approximately 11 mniutes. During service disruption, buses will either pick up and set down outside Wilkinson's store in King Street, or in the vicinity of the Lion Hotel in Bridge Street (Check notices for details).

It is served by one operator.

• East Midlands Trains Connect is the principal operator, with local services from Derby to Matlock via the Derwent Valley Line. Services are approximately 2-hourly and are formed using diesel multiple units of Classes 153, 156 or 158.
• East Midlands Trains Mainline operate a handful of express services from London St. Pancras International to Sheffield via Leicester and Derby. These services stop infrequently at Belper, mainly during the morning and evening peaks and are formed using diesel multiple units of Class 222 Meridians. Throughout the main part of the day interchange with Mainline services from Leeds, Sheffield and London can be made at Derby.

In 2005 the station has been refurbished with new shelters, seats, train indicators - and rubbish bins - by a consortium of local volunteers, work experience trainees and the local councils, with the active support of Network Rail and Central Trains (who managed the station at that time).

The cutting slices through a row of workers' houses.

Notice commemorating the refurbishment in 2005.

[edit] References

• Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
• The North Midland Railway Guide, (1842) Republished 1973, Leeds: Turntable Enterprises
• Naylor, P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Belper railway station from National Rail
• "Picture the Past" Original Station at Belper
• "Picture the Past" Belper Station circa 1910
• "Picture the Past" Station building c.1955