Dronfield railway station serves the town of

Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park is to the west. The nam ...

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 ...

, south of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

between

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 ...

and

History

Construction of the Sheffield & Chesterfield line was authorised 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 ...

Act of 1864 but it was not until Monday 2 February 1870 that the line and Dronfield station were opened to traffic. It 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 ...

. The line was known as the "New Road" to differentiate from the "Old Road" built by the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at wha ...

, which took an easier route along the Rother Valley and bypassed Sheffield. The station is on the long climb up the Drone valley to

Bradway Tunnel Bradway Tunnel, long, was built in 1870 about north of Dronfield, Derbyshire, in South Yorkshire, England. It is at the summit of the Midland Main Line between Chesterfield and Sheffield, on what is known to railwaymen as the "New Road" buil ...

at the point where the gradient steepens from 1 in 201 to 1 in 102. The station had single storey wooden buildings on both platforms. The main buildings, including booking office and staff offices, were on the " up" platform. The smaller building on the other platform contained a waiting room and a ladies' waiting room. To the south of the passenger station, on the land now used as a car park, was the goods station with a brick-built warehouse and several sidings. Dronfield Railway Station 01Feb1970

The station was closed to passengers with effect from Monday 2 January 1967, the last passenger train to call being the 21:41 Sheffield - Derby service on Saturday 31 December 1966. The station remained staffed for two years after closure until the goods station closed. The buildings were demolished in June 1973 but the platforms remained. Between 15 and 19 February 1979, British Rail temporarily reopened the station (along with

Wadsley Bridge Wadsley Bridge is a suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, northwest of the city centre. The area is a mixture of residential housing and small industrial and commercial premises. The suburb falls within the Hillsborough ward of the City ...

and the

platforms at Dore) because road transport throughout Sheffield had been brought to a standstill by heavy snowfall. Many trains on the

served the station during that period, and special single fares of 20p were charged to both

and Sheffield. Demand for the special services was so high on Friday 16 February that "passengers ravelling toSheffield were queueing on the station approach — the platforms being completely full". The station then reopened permanently to passengers on 5 January 1981 with a limited service at peak periods only. The station is managed by Northern. However, until 14 December 2008 no Northern services stopped there. A residents' pressure group, Friends of Dronfield Station, successfully campaigned for rail services to the town to be improved and continue to beautify the station and press for better facilities.

Stationmasters

In 1872 the station master George Poplar faced a case at Derby Sheriff’s Court for a breach of promise in relation to an engagement he had entered into with Miss Matilda Hunt. Although the plaintiff asked for damages of £500, the station master was on a weekly wage of 26s (), so the court awarded only £30. *George Poplar 1870 - 1896 *George Wheelock 1896 - 1908 *George A. Yates 1908 - 1916 (afterwards station master at St Albans) *R.E. Dilworth 1916 -1926 *E.J. Clulow 1926 - 1932 (formerly station master at Charfield, afterwards station master at Long Eaton) *Edmund T. Jackson 1932 - 1940 (afterwards station master at Spondon) *E.J. Straight from 1940 *C. James ca. 1946 - 1950 (afterwards station master at Hindley, Lancashire) *R.S. Lamb from 1950 (formerly station master at Haborough)

Service

From 14 December 2008 Northern started running a new hourly Express Service from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

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 ...

calling at Wakefield Kirkgate, Barnsley,

Meadowhall Interchange Meadowhall Interchange is a transport interchange located in north-east Sheffield, consisting of a combined heavy rail station, tram stop and bus and coach station. The second-busiest heavy rail station in the city in terms of passenger numb ...

, Dronfield,

Alfreton Alfreton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 7,971 at the 2011 Census. The villages of Ir ...

and

Langley Mill Langley Mill is a large village in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. History Originally named ''Long Lea'', the village of Langley Mill was a major employer throughout the mid 1900s with many companies including The Flour Mi ...

. Most of these services call at Dronfield. A small number of peak time East Midlands Railway Liverpool - Norwich services stop, including one Derby - Sheffield train in the morning operated by a mainline Class 222 unit. However mainline services from

and

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 ...

run through at high speed, and do not stop. Interchange with mainline services can be made at

and

References

External links

Friends of Dronfield Station
{{coord, 53, 18, 4.6, N, 1, 28, 8.2, W, region:GB_type:railwaystation, display=title Railway stations in Derbyshire DfT Category F2 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1870 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1981 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Northern franchise railway stations Beeching closures in England Dronfield John Holloway Sanders railway stations