Atherstone is 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 ...

serving the town of

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire w ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, England. It is on the

Trent Valley The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

section of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

, exactly from

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

station.

History

The station was designed by John William Livock and opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1847. It was absorbed by the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

in the Grouping of 1923. The station passed to the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

on nationalisation in 1948. When British Rail introduced sectorisation in the 1980s, the station was served by the

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

Sector until the

Privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

ways. In 1860 there was a train crash at Atherstone that killed 10 people. The

Tudor style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

station building has been grade II listed since 1980. All of the stations on the Trent Valley Line originally had similar station buildings in the same style, designed by John William Livock, however the one at Atherstone is the only remaining example on the line, of an original Livock designed building on a station which is still open, as all the others have since been demolished and replaced. Other examples still exist at the closed and stations. The station building was restored in 1985. It has not been used for railway purposes since 1972, when the station became unstaffed, and is now in private ownership. It is currently used by a veterinary practice.

Services

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

operating under the ''London Northwestern Railway'' branding, provide an hourly service in each direction (including Sundays); southbound to

via , and , and northbound to via avoiding Stoke-on-Trent. The hourly service was introduced by the previous operating company

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

in December 2008. The current hourly service is the best service Atherstone has ever received; historically the station received only an infrequent local stopping service, few of which went further north than Stafford or further south than either Rugby or ; for example the May 2000 timetable shows just five daily services between Stafford and Coventry calling at the station. Passenger use at the station has grown rapidly since the introduction of the new service. From May 2014 Atherstone was part of the previous operator London Midland's "Project 110" scheme which saw the speed of the trains on the Euston-Crewe service increase from 100 to , and take the express train route via Weedon rather than travel via the Northampton loop line. As a result, Atherstone lost its direct link with but the journey time to/from London was cut by 30 minutes, with most trains now timetabled to take 82 minutes to reach the capital. However, a few trains do go via Northampton Monday - Sunday.

References

* * *
Station on navigable O.S. map

External links

* {{Warwickshire railway stations, open Atherstone Railway stations in Warwickshire DfT Category F2 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains 1847 establishments in England John William Livock buildings Grade II listed railway stations Stations on the West Coast Main Line