railroad.wikisort.org - Station

Melton Mowbray railway station serves the market town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and operated by East Midlands Railway, though CrossCountry provides most of the station services. The station is on the line of the Syston and Peterborough Railway, which is now part of the much longer Birmingham to Peterborough Line. CrossCountry operates most of the services as part of its Birmingham–Stansted Airport route. It has a ticket office, which is staffed part-time, a car park, and help points for times when no staff are present.

Melton Mowbray
General information
Location	Melton Mowbray, Borough of Melton England
Grid reference	SK752187
Managed by	East Midlands Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	MMO
Classification	DfT category E
History
Original company	Midland Counties Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 September 1846 (1846-09-01)	First station opened as Melton
1 May 1848	Station resited
1 November 1876	Renamed Melton Mowbray
1923	Renamed Melton Mowbray South
25 September 1950	Renamed Melton Mowbray Midland
by 13 September 1957	Renamed Melton Mowbray Town
14 June 1965	Renamed Melton Mowbray
Passengers
2016/17	0.265 million
2017/18	0.269 million
2018/19	0.283 million
2019/20	0.277 million
2020/21	47,012
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station opened as Melton on 1 September 1846, with two sections of the Syston and Peterborough line, from Leicester to Melton and Stamford to Peterborough. The opening of the former had been delayed by opposition from a landowner, Lord Harborough.[1]

The building is thought to have been designed by William Parsons and Sancton Wood.[2] It was built by the contractor Herberts at a then cost of £3,021. The porte-cochère was added later by the Midland Railway in an attempt to improve the station in response to competition from the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway, which opened Melton North in 1879.

The station was badly damaged by a snowstorm on Tuesday 11 April 1876. The weight of snow on the corrugated iron roof that spanned the two platforms and lines, about 60 yards (55 m) long and 28 yards (26 m) wide, caused the roof to collapse shortly after a goods train had passed through. Fortunately there were no passengers on the platforms and no fatalities. A small section of remaining roof in poor condition was yanked down with a long chain, using a locomotive.[3] The line was cleared in about three hours.

On 1 November 1876 the station was renamed Melton Mowbray, in 1923 Melton Mowbray South and in 1957 Melton Mowbray Town, to distinguish it from the former Melton Mowbray North on the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway, though this closed to regular traffic in 1953.

It was refurbished in 2011 with new glass in the platform canopies, resurfaced platforms, passenger information screens, improved disabled access to the barrow crossing, a full repaint and a new footbridge. The refurbishment of the platforms retained their original size – previous plans to extend them by up to 14 yards (13 m) by no later than 2012 were omitted.[4]

Stationmasters

Services

Melton Mowbray has an hourly service off-peak in both directions operated by CrossCountry. Westbound trains run to Birmingham via Leicester, Nuneaton and Coleshill. Eastbound trains run to Stansted Airport via Peterborough, Ely and Cambridge. Additional trains run at peak times, with some terminating at Cambridge.[13]

Although the next station westbound is Syston, there are no direct services between the two.[13]

Despite managing the station, East Midlands Railway (EMR) only operates limited services to the station: a single daily return service to London St Pancras via Corby commenced on 27 April 2009.[14] It is notable as the first regular passenger service to cross the historic Welland Viaduct on the Oakham to Kettering line since 1966. The company introduced a further return service from Derby via East Midlands Parkway (for East Midlands Airport) from May 2010. Further services are being considered.[15] There are two daily services to and from London, one calling at Oakham, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, and Luton, and the other at Oakham, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway.[16]

A handful of local services operate at either end of the day, mainly for train-crew route-knowledge retention purposes. A morning service runs from Nottingham to Norwich and an evening service from Spalding to Nottingham via Peterborough.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Leicester		CrossCountry Birmingham – Stansted Airport		Oakham
Loughborough		East Midlands Railway Nottingham – Norwich (via Loughborough) Limited Service		Oakham
East Midlands Parkway		East Midlands Railway Derby-London (via Corby) Limited Service		Oakham
Terminus

Former services

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 7-ton crane. [17]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Asfordby		Midland Railway Leicester London Road to Peterborough		Oakham
Grimston		Midland Railway Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway		Oakham

Just outside Melton Mowbray station the main line is joined by the Old Dalby Test Track. This runs towards Nottingham via Old Dalby, but stops short of Nottingham railway station at the edge of the suburb of West Bridgford. This is electrified with overheads, has its own control centre and dates from when the British Rail Research Division developed it as a test track for the Advanced Passenger Train, having been taken out of use some years before. It has, more recently, been used for testing Virgin Trains' Pendolino units and later for the testing of new stock for London Underground built by Derby Litchurch Lane Works.

Facility

Railway station lavatories have not been noted for the luxury of their appointments. However, at Melton Mowbray North station, the toilet of the former first-class waiting room had a hot-water pipe coursing through the seat.[18]

Awards

Melton Mowbray station won a "highly commended" award at the National Rail Awards 2014 as Small station of the year.[19]

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Melton Mowbray railway station from National Rail

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