Pitsford and Brampton railway station is a railway station serving the villages of

Pitsford Pitsford is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. According to 2001 census, the parish's population was 636 people, increasing to 671 at the 2011 census. The village's name means 'Peoht's ford'. Pitsford ...

and

Chapel Brampton Chapel Brampton is a village and former civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. Together with nearby Church Brampton, it is known as '' The Bramptons''. At the time of the 2001 census, Chapel Brampton parish's population was 470 peo ...

in Northamptonshire, England. The station was once an intermediate stop on the

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

- Market Harborough railway line, which closed in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. The station has now been revived as the headquarters of a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

called the Northampton & Lamport Railway.

History

The

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

originally favoured a site close to where the line crossed the road to Welford, which later became Boughton level crossing. The people of Boughton made representations to the company to try to ensure that it was built there. However, the Earl Spencer wanted the station to be built at the point where the road between Chapel Brampton and Pitsford crossed the line. The railway company were reluctant to do this as the line was in a cutting at this point and the road was very poor. The Earl finally got his way, on condition that he paid for the road improvements. The station opened on 16 February 1859 as "Pitsford" when the line opened to passenger traffic. In June 1859 it was renamed "Brampton and Pitsford", and then on 1 April 1860 it became "Brampton", then finally "Pitsford and Brampton" on 24 November 1881. The station had a very quiet career, never having many

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

s. A special dock was built for loading

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

wagons, a very important local crop at one time. The beet dock was the only part of the station to survive demolition when the station finally closed on 5 June 1950.

Current station

Portable buildings make up the present station, with the exception of the booking office which is the top half of the Lamport

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

and the station signal box which was moved from Little Bowden Crossing, near Market Harborough. The station has three platforms; a single bi-directional platform on the main running line and two north-facing bay platforms.

References

Links

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64518788@N05/7764238124/in/album-72157629891912953/ Heritage railway stations in Northamptonshire Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1950 {{EastMidlands-railstation-stub

History

Current station

See also

References

Links