Long Eaton railway station serves the town of

Long Eaton Long Eaton is a town in the Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and some 8½ miles (13.7 km) south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has ...

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. It lies 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 ...

and the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

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 ...

line north of

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

. The station is managed 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 ...

, but

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT ...

operates some services.

History

The line was opened by the

Midland Counties Railway The Midland Counties' Railway (MCR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1839 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, to London. The MCR ...

in 1839, which shortly joined 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 ...

and the

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. It now forms part ...

to form 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 ...

. The first Sawley station was a mile out of the village on Sawley Lane, Breaston. First used in 1839, when the line opened, it was the third station from Nottingham. It was originally called Breaston, but the name was changed to avoid confusion with Beeston. This station was designed by A. A. Langley, engineer to the

, and opened as ''Sawley Junction'' on 10 December 1888 on Tamworth Road. Since another station had been opened not far away at Draycott in 1852, the original Sawley closed in 1930. On 9 October 1869 a

passenger train was involved in a rear-end collision with another train at Long Eaton Junction resulting in seven deaths and another twelve injured. The investigation blamed fog, inadequate braking power, excessive speed and fog-man error for the collision. In 1932, the LMS announced that ''Sawley Junction'' would be known as ''Sawley Junction for Long Eaton''. In 1967 the station became known as ''Long Eaton''. Since late 2009, Long Eaton has become a penalty fare station. Tickets must be purchased from the ticket office or self-service machine before boarding a train.

Stationmasters

*A. Burchell 1888 - 1891 *G. Gardner 1891 - 1894 (discharged) *Thomas Smith 1895 - 1904 (afterwards station master at Saltley) *A. Wyer 1904 - 1920 (afterwards station master at Doe Hill) *F. Parr 1920 - 1924 *J. Ecclestone from 1924 (formerly station master at Ditchford) *Rupert D. Hitchens 1937 - 1941 (afterwards station master at Albion) *John H. Farmer from 1941 *George Manning ca. 1947 - ca. 1965 For some years from the 1920s until 1937, the station was managed by the station master at Trent Junction.

Services

Rail routes run north–south through Long Eaton along the route known as the

, going south to

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

and London; and north to

, Chesterfield and

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 major junction south of the station at Trent links with the cross-country route to

. West bound services to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

travel via Derby and the

Cross Country Route A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

. Train operators using the station include

and

. The usual Monday–Saturday service pattern is as follows: *Cross-country **One train per hour (tph) to

(platform 1) **1 tph to Cardiff Central (platform 2) *East Midlands Railway **1 tph to

(platform 1) **2 tph to

with 1 continue to (platform 1) **1 tph to

(platform 2) **1 tph to Matlock (platform 2) **1 tph to

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

(platform 2) On Sundays, the London to Sheffield trains call hourly each way and the Matlock trains every two hours. There is an hourly Derby to Nottingham stopping service in each direction, but no direct service to Birmingham.

Current station

The usable length of the station platforms is shorter than the Intercity trains which stop here. Passengers arriving from

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 ...

usually have to get off from the front four carriages. Cycles are sometimes stored in vestibules away from the cycle lockers, depending on the orientation of the train. The station is staffed between 06:00 and 17:30 during the day and has three automatic ticket machines installed externally, which can be used day and night: at the station front and on platform 1 and 2 inside the platform shelter. It was planned that both platforms would be extended by up to 10 metres by no later than 2012. This was not completed and the platform has not been extended. Developments along the Erewash line are expected to bring changes to Long Eaton station. A plan drawn up in 2011 recommended a new Derby to Mansfield service via new stations at Breaston & Draycott, Long Eaton West (renamed from Long Eaton), Long Eaton Central, Stapleford & Sandiacre, Ilkeston, Eastwood & Langley Mill (renamed from Langley Mill), Selston & Somercotes and then to Pinxton via new trackbed connecting with the Mansfield line from Nottingham at Kirkby in Ashfield.

References

*''The Nottingham and Derby Railway Companion'', 1839, republished 1979 with a foreword by J. B. Radford, Derbyshire Record Society *C. Banks, 1996. ''British Railways Past and Present: Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire,'' Past and Present Publishing Ltd *M. Higginson, 1989. ''The Midland Counties Railway: A Pictorial Survey,'' Derby: Midland Railway Trust

External links

{{coord, 52, 53, 06, N, 1, 17, 14, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in Derbyshire DfT Category D stations Former Midland Railway stations Long Eaton Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by CrossCountry