Shirebrook railway station serves the town of

Shirebrook Shirebrook is a town in the Bolsover district in Derbyshire, England. Close to the boundaries with the districts of Mansfield and Bassetlaw of Nottinghamshire,OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): it had a population of 13,300 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 ...

. The station is on the

Robin Hood Line The Robin Hood Line is a railway line running from Nottingham to Worksop, Nottinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. The stations between Shirebrook and Whitwell (inclusive) are in Derbyshire. Passenger services are operated by East Midlands Rai ...

, 21½ miles (35 km) north of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

towards

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

Shirebrook West railway station 2122691 64a225c7

History

The line and the station were built 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 am ...

. It was opened for goods traffic in April 1875 and for passenger traffic on 1 June 1875 when the Midland Railway built a branch line from Mansfield to Worksop. The station was designed by the

company architect

John Holloway Sanders John Holloway Sanders FRIBA (1825 – 16 October 1884) was an architect based in England and chief architect of the Midland Railway until 1884. His date of appointment as Chief Architect to the Midland Railway is not known, but he is recorded as ...

. In 1951, the station was renamed "Shirebrook West" despite being on the ''eastern'' edge of the village. This was to "avoid confusion" with three other stations: * built by the LD&ECR in 1897. Despite its name, Shirebrook North was not actually in Shirebrook, but in nearby Langwith Junction. * built by the GNR on their line from Langwith Junction to via . This line used to pass through the middle of Shirebrook by a massive embankment, cutting the village in two. Shirebrook South actually was in southern Shirebrook. * Shirebrook Colliery (later renamed Shirebrook Colliery Sidings) for colliery workmen's trains only. Shirebrook South closed to regular passenger services in 1931, but excursions continued to call at least until 1957. Shirebrook North closed to regular passenger services in 1955, but excursions continued to call until 1964. Shirebrook Colliery Sidings closed by June 1954.

Station masters

*H. Woods 1875 - 1906 *William Dean 1906 - 1920 (formerly station master at Barrow on Soar, afterwards station master at Barrow Hill and Staveley Works, and Staveley Town and Whittington) *Charles Garner 1920 - 1930 (afterwards station master at Ilkley) *Henry Alfred Breathwaite ca. 1953

Branch lines

Two branch lines are plainly visible veering off north of the bridge at the north end of Shirebrook station. The double tracks branching off eastwards (i.e. to the right as viewed from the station) to the side of the signalbox joined the LD&ECR's one-time main line to Lincoln, next stop . The branch only ever carried a regular passenger service for a few years in Edwardian times. It did, however, carry Summer holiday trains such as the Summer Saturdays Radford to Skegness in at least 1963. The branch's main purpose was always freight traffic, with coal being overwhelmingly dominant. In 2013 the line gives access to UK Coal's Thoresby Colliery and to the

High Marnham Test Track The High Marnham Test Track is a linear railway test track created in 2009 and centred on Lodge Lane, Tuxford, in Nottinghamshire in the United Kingdom. It houses Network Rail's Rail Innovation & Development Centre (RIDC), originally known a ...

. There is some hope of reopening the line as a branch off the

and reopening ,

Edwinstowe Edwinstowe is a large village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England, on the edge of Sherwood Forest. It is associated with the legends of Robin Hood and Maid Marian and known for the proximity of the f ...

and

Ollerton Ollerton is a town in the Newark and Sherwood District, Nottinghamshire, England, on the edge of Sherwood Forest in the area known as the Dukeries. It forms part of the civil parish of Ollerton and Boughton. OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: ...

stations, providing an hourly service to Mansfield and Nottingham. The single line veering off westwards (to the left as viewed from the station) was removed in the 1940s and relaid in 1974. It used to have a matching second track coming down on the other side of the main lines, behind the signalbox as viewed from the station, but that was not reinstated. The reinstated single line serves W H Davis's wagon works in Langwith Junction. From 1900 to 1939 the pair of lines enabled trains to run from Sheffield through , , Creswell's old "Top Station" (), , Shirebrook West, and to . Finally, up to 1974 the next station north from Shirebrook on what is now the

was not but simply "". That station was at Langwith Maltings. In the 1964-1998 closure period it was demolished. As a new station would have to be built at Langwith when the Robin Hood Line was to be reopened it was decided that the community would be better served by a station at Nether Langwith/Whaley Thorns than at the old station site.

Services

All services at Shirebrook are operated by

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...

. On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is generally served by an hourly service northbound to and southbound to via . There is currently no Sunday service at the station since the previous service of four trains per day was withdrawn in 2011. Sunday services at the station are due to recommence at the station during the life of the East Midlands franchise.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

The station on an Edwardian 6" OS map, via ''National Library of Scotland''
* ttp://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/ELRs/_mileages/P/PSE.txt The station, line and mileages, via ''Railway Mileages'' {{Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations in Derbyshire DfT Category F1 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1875 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1998 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Beeching closures in England John Holloway Sanders railway stations Shirebrook