Stamford railway station

Stamford railway station serves the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England, and is located in St Martin's. The station is west of Peterborough. It was opened by the Syston and Peterborough Railway, part of the present day Birmingham to Peterborough Line. CrossCountry operate the majority of services as part of their Birmingham to Stansted Airport route. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway

The station was formerly known as Stamford Town to distinguish it from the now closed Stamford East station in Water Street. It is often printed on timetables and train tickets as Stamford (Lincs) to distinguish it from either Stamford Hill station in London or Stanford-le-Hope station in Essex.

The station building is a fine stone structure in Mock Tudor style, influenced by the nearby Burghley House, and designed by Sancton Wood. It was upgraded to Grade II* listed building status in March 2020.

History

Openings

Opened by the Midland Railway on its Syston and Peterborough Railway, train services began on 2 October 1846 on the Peterborough to Stamford section, using a temporary station in Water Street, as the tunnel was not complete. The contract for the erection of the permanent station was obtained by Groocock and Yates of Leicester in 1847. The permanent station opened along with through services to Leicester on 20 March 1848.

The London and North Western Railway opened their single track branch line from Rugby via Market Harborough on 2 June 1851. This actually joined the Midland line at Luffenham, but trains generally worked through to Stamford and terminated in the LNWR bay, platform 3, the far side of the current Leicester platform, which is now disused and filled in.

In 1863, the weekday train service comprised 5 each way per day on the Peterborough - Stamford - Leicester route, 3 each way per day on the Stamford - Market Harborough - Rugby route, and 1 each way per day on the Stamford - Market Harborough - Northampton route, including through coaches to London Euston, then known as Euston Square.Bradshaws General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, February 1863.

The LNWR Rugby line was double tracked in 1878, but in 1879 the LNWR built a new line from to Wansford on their existing Peterborough to Northampton Nene valley line, and from this time, Rugby to Peterborough was operated as the main line and the Stamford to Seaton section became a branch line, and was singled again in 1907.Butler, P., (2007) A History of the Railways of Northamptonshire, Great Addington: Silver Link Publishing

Closures

When Stamford East station closed in 1957, the Stamford to Essendine services were diverted to Town station, but these services ceased in 1959. Some minor stations on the Midland line closed in the 1950s and 1960s and the remaining village stations such as Helpston and Ketton & Collyweston closed in 1966, along with the Seaton branch line from Luffenham.

1970s With the end of steam traction, the service in the 1970s and early 1980s generally comprised a stopping service formed of 2-car DMUs running between Peterborough and Leicester every two hours, supplemented by a two or three times a day Peterborough to Stamford shuttle service. There was also a four or five times daily through Birmingham to Norwich service usually formed by a Class 31 with four or five Mark 1 coaches, these services generally ran non-stop between Peterborough and Leicester.

1980s General goods services in Stamford finished in the late 1960s but the coal yard remained in use until 16 May 1983.

When the coal yard closed, the opportunity was also taken to close the signal box. All pointwork was removed and mechanical signals were replaced by colour lights controlled by Ketton signal box. Ketton signal box was retained due to the need to monitor the level crossing. With no crossover, the Peterborough to Stamford shuttles were for a time reversed at Ketton, before being withdrawn altogether.

With the line to the bay platform lifted, the bay was filled in to form a flowerbed.

1990s In the late 1990s, the toilets were closed, having been the subject of vandalism and variously available since the 1960s. The ticket office is only open in the mornings. The small bicycle rack outside the station was removed.

2000s

Central Trains undertook internal modifications and refurbishment to the ticket office and booking hall towards the end of their franchise. Network Rail also invested £500,000 on refurbishment of the station building, modern lighting, overbridge and foot crossing to further update the station in late 2007.

In late July 2008, Network Rail was granted listed building consent to make alterations to the then Grade II listed station building to enable larger freight trains of W10 loading gauge to travel on the Peterborough to Nuneaton route. This will involve changes to the platform alignment and the platform canopy and a temporary platform will be provided during the works.

It was planned that both platforms would be extended by up to five metres by no later than 2012.

Historical services

Timetable for February 1863 The table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in February 1863.Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, February 1863 DepartureGoing toCalling atArrivalOperator06.45London Euston SquareLuffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Kelmarsh, Lamport, Brixworth, Brampton, Northampton Castle. Through coaches to Blisworth, Wolverton, Camden, London Euston Square10.30LNWR07.10LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whisendine, Saxby, Melton, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester09.10MR07.30RugbyLuffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby09.15LNWR09.03Peterborough Great EasternUffington & Barnack, Helpstone, Walton, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern09.40MR10.00RugbyLuffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby11.45LNWR10.47Peterborough Great EasternHelpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern11.20MR10.52LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Saxby, Melton, Syston, Leicester12.20MR13.10LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Melton, Brooksby, Syston, Leicester14.40MR14.11Peterborough Great EasternHelpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern14.40MR16.23LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whisendine, Saxby, Melton, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester18.15MR16.45RugbyLuffenham, Seaton, Rockingham, Medbourne Bridge, Market Harborough, Thedingworth, Welford & Kilworth, Stanford Hall, Lilbourne, Rugby18.35LNWR16.47Peterborough Great EasternUffington & Barnack, Helpstone, Walton, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern17.25MR20.44LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Saxby, Melton, Brooksby, Syston, Leicester22.25MR21.52Peterborough Great EasternHelpstone, Peterborough Crescent, Peterborough Great Eastern22.20MR

Timetable for July 1922 The table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in July 1922.Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, July 1922 DepartureGoing toCalling atArrivalOperator07.35SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton08.03LNWR08.20LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester10.03MR08.53Peterborough EastUffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East09.33MR09.08SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton09.33LNWR09.39OakhamKetton, Luffenham, Oakham10.08MR10.41LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Leicester11.56MR10.43Peterborough EastUffington & Barnack, Helpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East11.20MR11.35SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton12.01LNWR11.46Peterborough EastPeterborough North, Peterborough East12.13MR12.33LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Leicester14.00MR13.55SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton14.20LNWR14.30Peterborough EastUffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East15.08MR16.02LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Whissendine, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Syston, Leicester17.32MR16.15SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton16.40LNWR17.01Peterborough EastUffington & Barnack, Helpston, Walton, Peterborough North, Peterborough East17.37MR17.38LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Saxby, Melton Mowbray, Asfordby, Frisby, Brooksby, Rearsby, Syston, Leicester19.13MR17.48SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton18.11LNWR18.31Peterborough EastHelpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East19.02MR19.43Peterborough EastHelpston, Peterborough North, Peterborough East20.20MR19.55SeatonKetton, Luffenham, Morcott, Seaton20.20LNWR20.45LeicesterKetton, Luffenham, Manton, Oakham, Ashwell, Melton Mowbray, Syston, Leicester22.08MR22.40Peterborough EastPeterborough North, Peterborough East20.20MR

Services

From Stamford, CrossCountry operates a generally hourly service in each direction:

Westbound towards , via . Eastbound towards , via .

Despite managing the station, East Midlands Railway only operates three daily services to the station, mainly for train crew route knowledge purposes; there are two early morning services to and a late night service to .

References

External links

Brief history of Stamford railways