Ashby Magna was a station on the Great Central Railway, the last main line to be constructed from the

north of England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, which opened in 1899 to serve the

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

village of Ashby Magna. Architecturally, the station was very similar to Whetstone in that it comprised a single

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

designed by Alexander Ross which allowed the tracks to pass either side of a central platform, and was intended to facilitate future expansion of the railway. Access to the station was via a stairway which led down from the road bridge on Station Road.

History

Opened by the Great Central Railway, it became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

during the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. The station then passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. It was then closed by the British Railways Board.

The site today

The station closed along with the railway line in 1969, and today little remains of it. The construction of the M1 motorway (which occurred whilst the line was still open) to the east of the station resulted in the demolition of the stationmaster's house and the loss of the goods yard. Today, a timber merchant occupies the site and remains of the cattle dock are still visible.

References

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Station on navigable O. S. map
Disused railway stations in Leicestershire Former Great Central Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1899 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 Beeching closures in England 1899 establishments in England Harborough District {{EastMidlands-railstation-stub