Ilkeston Town railway station was a
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
which served the town of
Ilkeston
Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...
in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was opened in 1847 by the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
.
This station was connected to the
Erewash Valley Line by a short branch from
Ilkeston Junction, the route of which roughly followed the present Millership Way and which was served by horse-drawn railway carriages for some years.
[Shaw, G & Miller, P, (2012) ''Railway Tales - Ilkeston and District in the Age of Steam,'' Ilkeston: Ilkeston & District Local History Society]
By 1853, three trains were running daily each way between Nottingham and Ilkeston via Long Eaton. However, local newspapers contain many letters of complaint in the 1850s and 1860s regarding the poor standard of waiting rooms and other facilities at the local stations and even about the rudeness of the staff. Some of the Midland Railway's Directors, their General Manager and Engineer visited Ilkeston in 1860 to discuss rail users’ concerns, although little seems to have been accomplished from the visit.
The original station, opened on 6 September 1847 and named ''Ilkeston'', was closed on 2 May 1870
but remodelled in response to the arrival of the
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took le ...
Derbyshire Extension line through its station later known as
Ilkeston North. The station, now named ''Ilkeston Town'', re-opened on 1 July 1879.
It carried a shuttle service from
Ilkeston Junction which was never particularly popular since the GNR provided a direct main line service. Some services were also provided to
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
and
Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
From 1882 the former were routed along the Bennerley Junction route to Basford, with six services a day, but they ended at the beginning of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
[Kingscott, G., (2004) ''Lost Railways of Nottinghamshire,'' Newbury: Countryside Books]
In 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 all lines (into four main companies) in 1923 the station became part of the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway .
The station closed to passengers on 10 July 1950, having been open on a restricted basis since 16 June 1947,
and goods operations had ceased by 1960. The tracks were lifted and the footbridge removed. The site is now occupied by a roundabout at the end of Ilkeston's Chalons Way by-pass and a large Tesco supermarket.
References
{{Closed stations Derbyshire
Disused railway stations in Derbyshire
Former Midland Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1950
Ilkeston
1847 establishments in England