Widmerpool railway station

The station was opened for goods (1 Nov 1879) & passengers (2 February 1880) by the Midland Railway. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.{{cite news |author= |title=Notes by the Way. |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000228/18841101/022/0005 |newspaper=Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald |location=British Newspaper Archive |date=1 November 1884 |access-date=12 July 2016 |via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}

It was on its cut-off line from {{stnlnk|Melton Mowbray}} to {{stnlnk|Nottingham}}, which had opened the previous year to allow the railway company's expresses between London and the North to avoid reversal at Nottingham. It also improved access to and from the iron-ore fields in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Local traffic was always minimal, a situation not helped by the station being situated one and a half miles from the village of its name, and it closed to passengers as early as 1949.{{Cite book | last=Shannon | first=Paul | title=Nottinghamshire (British Railways Past and Present) | year=2007 | publisher=Past & Present Publishing | location=Kettering, Northants | isbn=978-1-85895-253-6 | page=23}}

According to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G, P†, F, L, H, C and there was a 1-ton 10 cwt crane.Official Handbook of Stations, British Transport Commission, 1956.

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• Thomas Sanders 1879 - 1883
• G. Lamberts 1884 - 1888{{cite journal |author= |date=12 May 1888 |title=Mr. Lambert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jg01AQAAIAAJ&dq=widmerpool+%22stationmaster%22&pg=PA769 |journal=The Railway News |volume= |issue= |pages=769 |doi= |access-date=6 February 2021}} (afterwards station master at Whitacre)
• James Brindley 1888
• William Henry Higginson 1888 - 1890 (afterwards station master at Fiskerton)
• William H. Turner 1890 - 1893 (afterwards station master at Carlton)
• Samuel Oughton 1893 - 1895 (formerly station master at Edwalton, afterwards station master at Whitwell)
• John Thomas Tye 1895 - 1903
• George Edward Cramp 1903 - 1916 (formerly station master at Hykeham, afterwards district station master in Nigeria){{cite news |author= |title=Cottesmore | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000400/19160826/038/0002 |newspaper=Grantham Journal |location=England |date=26 August 1916 |access-date=6 February 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• Harry Horbutt Russell 1918 - 1921{{cite news |author= |title=Died while dressing. Widmerpool Stationmasters Tragic End | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19210808/009/0001 |newspaper=Nottingham Evening Post |location=England |date=8 August 1921 |access-date=6 February 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• Thomas Alfred Mason 1922 - 1937
• Harold Crompton 1937{{cite news |author= |title=Upper Broughton | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000400/19370911/366/0016 |newspaper=Grantham Journal |location=England |date=11 September 1937 |access-date=6 February 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} - 1939 (also station master at Upper Broughton, afterwards station master at Ipstones, Bradnop and Winkhill)
• William Simmonds from 1939
• Arnold Naylor
• Frank W.E. Clarke 1945 - 1947 (afterwards station master at Rolleston Junction){{cite news |author= |title=Local Jottings | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19470314/030/0004 |newspaper=Nottingham Evening Post |location=England |date=14 March 1947 |access-date=6 February 2021 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• E.J. Bloor 1947 (formerly station master at Westhouses)
• John Abel 1947
• George Jones 1948 - 1956
• Fred Saunders 1958 - 1960

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{{Disused Rail Start}}

{{Rail line|next=Upper Broughton|previous=Plumtree|route=Midland Railway
Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway|col=000000}}

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Following the closure of the line as a through-route in 1968, the track between Melton Mowbray and {{stnlnk|Edwalton}} was converted for use as the Old Dalby Test Track. This was used initially for the Advanced Passenger Train project and, more recently, Class 390 Pendolino units.Shannon, P., p. 23. It was also used for testing London Underground 'S Stock' trains.

The station's Up platform remains in existence, as does the Down platform waiting room although the platform itself was removed during electrification work in 2000. The main station building was converted into a pub and restaurant c1966 before the line closed. It was originally called the Schooner Inn and later the Pullman Inn. Following closure of the business, Network Rail purchased the building and surrounding land in order to secure access to the test track infrastructure. The building was unused from 2016 to 2022.{{cite web|url=http://www.nottinghampost.com/future-of-pullman-pub-could-be-decided-in-2017/story-30012139-detail/story.html|title=Future of Pullman pub could be decided in 2017|date=27 December 2016|access-date=24 January 2017}}

The buildings were demolished in August 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/derelict-village-pub-near-loughborough-7249668|title=Derelict village pub near Loughborough to be demolished|date=24 June 2022|access-date=23 August 2022}}

The timber goods shed survived until electrification in 2000. Just to the north of the station site lies Stanton Tunnel,{{convert|1330|yd}} long.

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{{coord|52.8564|-1.0395|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=title}}

• [http://www.old-dalby.com/Widmerpool-1.htm Pictures of Widmerpool station over the years]
• [http://www.old-dalby.com/Widmerpool.htm Pictures of trains at Widmerpool station]
• [http://www.npemap.org.uk/tiles/map.html#464,328,1 Widmerpool station on navigable 1946 O.S. map]

{{Closed stations Nottinghamshire}}

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Category:Disused railway stations in Nottinghamshire

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1949

Category:Former Midland Railway stations

Category:John Holloway Sanders railway stations