Whetstone was a station on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

(GCR), the last main line to be constructed from the north of England to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, which opened in 1899 to serve the Leicestershire village of Whetstone. Whetstone station was built by the Great Central as part of its '' London Extension'', and opened to passengers on 15 March 1899. It was a conventional London extension station, common in towns on villages on the GCR, and was equipped with 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 ...

. Access was from beneath the railway bridge, which once spanned Station Street near the centre of the village. The platform was on the south side of the bridge on an embankment that was particularly wide to accommodate the goods yard. All the station's buildings were situated on the single platform and comprised a porter's room, a booking office, general and ladies waiting rooms, plus a gentlemen's toilet block.Whetstone Station
/ref> The station was one of the earlier closures on the line closing to passengers in 1963; it, like nearby , served a relatively sparsely populated area and had always struggled to attract sufficient revenue. Since closure, the railway embankment has been removed, along with all station buildings and platforms; only the stationmaster's house remains today. A new housing development has been constructed on the old trackbed formation.

References

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 1963 {{EastMidlands-railstation-stub