Spondon railway station serves the

Spondon Spondon is a ward of the city of Derby. Originally a small village, Spondon dates back to the Domesday Book and it became heavily industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese. History The n ...

area of

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 ...

, England. The station is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and managed by East Midlands Railway. It is 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 ...

. Spondon is a

penalty fare A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares n ...

station if travelling with EMR. It is an unstaffed station equipped with a

permit to travel In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is close ...

machine.

History

Lying on the

–

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, the first station on the site 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, Warwickshire, Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, t ...

(MCR) on 5 June 1839. The fifth station from Nottingham, it was kept by a Mr. Carter. Trains to Spondon originally left from the north end of Derby station before turning east towards Nottingham. However, on 27 June 1867 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 ...

, successor to the MCR, opened a new route towards Nottingham (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 ...

) which led from the south end of Derby station (so that Manchester – London trains would no longer have to reverse at Derby). The new route and the old joined immediately west of Spondon, which was to remain a junction station until 1969, when the original, more northerly, connection to Derby was closed as a through route. The station was enlarged in the early 20th century to cope with the volume of traffic for the nearby

British Celanese British Celanese was a chemical company based in England. Formed in 1916, it survived as an independent company until 1957 when it became a subsidiary of Courtaulds. History The origins of the company lie with two brothers, Henri and Camille ...

plant. In the 1920s, more than 14,000 worked here. The station is also the location of the junction for rail freight traffic into the

works. It was planned that both platforms would be extended by up to 25 metres no later than 2012.

Stationmasters

On 13 August 1924 the station master, Henry Ernest Haines, was killed in the stationmaster’s house when a lorry crashed into the building. The driver of the lorry was heading for the British Celanese works and had crossed the canal bridge when he realised that the level crossing gates were closed. He was unable to stop and rather than run into the gates he steered into the stationmaster’s house and office. *Joseph Chambers 1857 - 1876 *G. Bailey 1876 - 1886 *James C. Chidgey 1886 - 1897 (afterwards station master at Redland, Bristol) *Samuel Pitt 1897 - 1898 (formerly station master at Oakley, Bedfordshire, afterwards station master at Rowsley) *Frank Porter 1898 - 1901 (formerly station master at East Langton, afterwards station master at Bakewell) *William Cope 1901 - 1909 (afterwards station master at Duffield) *James Harford 1909? - 1921 (formerly station master at Tibshelf, afterwards station master at Chinley) *Henry Ernest Haines 1921 - 1924 *Ernest J. Brooks 1925 - 1931 (formerly station master at Thrapstone) *W.B. Barker 1932 - 1940 *Edmund T. Jackson 1940 - 1947 (formerly station master at Dronfield, afterwards station master at Belper) *G.R. Hemmings 1947 Onwards (formerly station master at Rowsley)

Current services

Train services at Spondon are operated by East Midlands Railway and CrossCountry. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to * 1 tph to via The station is also served by a small number of CrossCountry services between , and Nottingham. Prior to May 2021, the station was served by a limited service with regular hourly services being introduced on that years timetable change. However, from Saturday 19 June 2021 until further notice, the hourly service was replaced by a two hourly bus service to Derby. Fast trains 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 ...

pass by the station but do not stop. There is no Sunday service.

References

*''The Nottingham and Derby Railway Companion,'' (1839) Republished 1979 with foreword by J.B.Radford, Derbyshire Record Society *Higginson, M, (1989) ''The Midland Counties Railway: A Pictorial Survey,'' Derby: Midland Railway Trust.

External links

{{coord, 52, 54, 43, N, 1, 24, 38, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in Derby DfT Category F2 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1839 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by CrossCountry