Croft railway station was a railway station serving the village of

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

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 ...

. It was on the

Birmingham to Peterborough Line Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

about southwest of . The line is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

History

The station was opened on 1 December 1877 by the

London North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 in rail transport, 1846 and 1922 in rail transport, 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdo ...

, at a cost of £1209.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

closed the station on 4 March 1968. The station was of timber, modular construction, similar to that of the LNWR on the Rugby to Stamford Railway, with simple timber braces to support the awning. Access was from the main driveway and footpaths from the adjacent footbridge. Although the "down" platform was removed in 1950, steps from Arbor Road led here. In 1885, the booking office was extended to the west to provide a goods office, this time in concrete, mined from the local granite company. A station master's house was provided in 1892, built on the west side of Station Road. The platforms were faced in local granite and extended in 1904 and again in 1922. The station was a popular entry into the LNWR gardens competition, but was demolished following the station's closure. The Station Masters house and cottages remain after suffragettes set fire to the station in 1914.Leicestershire's stations, An Historical Perspective, Andrew Moore, Laurel House ISBN 0953362809

References

{{reflist Disused railway stations in Leicestershire Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1877 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1968 Beeching closures in England