Wellingborough railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Wellingborough
Location
Place	Wellingborough
Local authority	Wellingborough (borough)
Operations
Managed by	Midland Mainline
Platforms in use	2
Annual entry/exit	0.746 million *
History
Key dates	Opened 1857
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
* based on sales of tickets in 2002/03 financial year which end or originate at Wellingborough. Disclaimer (PDF)

Wellingborough railway station serves the town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, it is 104 km (65 miles) from London St. Pancras and is served only by slower Midland Mainline Meridian services.

It was built by the Midland Railway in 1857 on its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin. It was known for a time as Wellingborough Midland Road to distinguish from one built by the the LNWR in 1866 at Wellingborough London Road on its line between Northampton and Peterborough which has long disappeared. A curve linked the two stations from west to north.

The buildings, designed by C. A. Driver, still exist, though in altered form.

Wellingborough also had a large Locomotive depot with two roundhouses, the first built 1868, the second in 1872.

The station was the scene of a serious accident in 1898 when a trolley ran off the platform in front of a Manchester express. The crew and six passengers were killed and sixty-five injured.

The station is to the east of the town. It is also the closest station to the town of Rushden.

[edit] Services

There is generally a half-hourly service to London St. Pancras (southbound) and to either Derby or Nottingham via Leicester (northbound) operated by Midland Mainline Meridian trains.

[edit] General Information

Wellingborough has three platforms: two are regularly used, one occasionally, and another platform face with no trackwork. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Higham Ferrers and there is now a preservation movement to reopen this route (see Rushden, Higham & Wellingborough Railway). From Bedford to Wellingborough the Midland Main Line is unusual for being a three-tracked main line. Other instances of this occurring are around Nuneaton on the West Coast Main Line and on the Cross City line in Birmingham. Before rationalisation this formation was part of the longest continuous four-track layout in the UK, extending from London St. Pancras to Glendon Junction.