Wellingborough railway station
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Wellingborough railway station (formerly Wellingborough Midland Road) is a
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
station located in the market town of
Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...
in
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
,
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 ...
. 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 is from
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 central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...
. The station is operated by East Midlands Railway, which is also the primary operator serving the station with passenger services. As well as Wellingborough itself, the station is also the closest to the towns of
Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated popula ...
,
Raunds Raunds is a market town in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 9,379 at the 2021 census. Geography Raunds is situated north-east of Northampton. The town is on the southern edge of the Nene Valley and surrounded by ar ...
,
Irthlingborough Irthlingborough () is a town on the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 8,900 at the 2011 census and was the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C., prior to the ...
and
Rushden Rushden is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Northamptonshire, England, around east of Northampton. The parish is on the border with Bedfordshire, north of Bedford. The parish of Rushden covers an area of some ...
, although there is no direct public transport link from the station itself to any of these towns apart from Irthlingborough. It is also the nearest station to Rushden Lakes shopping centre. Wellingborough station was used as a filming location for the film '' Kinky Boots'', standing in for Northampton station. In late 2009, Wellingborough was made 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 by East Midlands Trains, which means a valid ticket or
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 ...
must be shown when requested.


History

Wellingborough station was built 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 am ...
in 1857, on its extension from to and . At the time, the station was known as Wellingborough Midland Road to distinguish from one built by the
LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...
in 1866, at for the
Northampton and Peterborough Railway The Northampton and Peterborough Railway was an early railway promoted by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to run from a junction at Blisworth on the L&BR main line to Northampton and Peterborough, in England. The construction of the lin ...
, which closed in 1966. A curve linked the two stations from west to north. The buildings, designed by C. H. Driver, still exist, though in altered form. Much of this occurred when the branch to was built in 1894, when the up main platform was substantially altered, removing the original canopies. Wellingborough also had a large
locomotive depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...
with two roundhouses; the first built 1868 and the second in 1872. The 1872 building, known as No.2 Shed still exists, just to the north of the station at the far side of Mill Rd bridge. On 2 September 1898, the station was the scene of a serious rail accident, when a trolley ran off the platform in front of a
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
express train. The crew and five passengers were killed and sixty-five injured.
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
removed the fourth track between Kettering and Sharnbrook Junction in the 1980s, for cost cutting reasons, making platform 4 unused. Work started in 2019 on rebuilding the platform in preparation for reopening and reinstatement of the fourth track. There were originally five platforms at Wellingborough station - Platforms 1 & 2 still exist as they were, platform 3 was the bay platform for Northampton trains, which ceased on 4 May 1964. The bay is still there, but fenced off from platform 2. In 1964, platform 4 (the then down slow platform) was re-numbered platform 3. Platform 5 was taken out of use when the Rushden and Higham Ferrers services ceased in 1959.


Station Masters

*George Renshaw 1867 - 1893 *George Turner 1893 - 1908 *Mr. A. Roper 1909 - 1930 (formerly station master at Finedon) *W.J. Wearn 1930 - 1937 *Oscar Best 1937 - 1940 (afterwards stationmaster at Huddersfield) *V.L. Ward 1940 - 1943 (afterwards station master at Derby) *S. Curtis 1947 - ???? *Albert Horsley 1953 - ????


General information

Wellingborough has four platforms. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to
Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated popula ...
. The station has the
PlusBus Plusbus is an add-on ticket, which can be purchased with National Rail train tickets in the United Kingdom. It allows unlimited travel on participating bus and tram operators' services in the whole urban area of rail-served towns and cities. ...
scheme, where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. From Bedford to Kettering, 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 ...
is unusual for being a three-tracked main line. There are other instances of this occurring, such as on the
Cross City Line The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New ...
in
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 West ...
. Before rationalisation, this formation was part of the longest continuous four-track layout in the UK, extending from London St. Pancras to Glendon Junction (north of Kettering). With rail freight and passenger demands rising, Network Rail are now in the process of reinstating the fourth line from Sharnbrook Junction to Kettering.


Services

There is a half-hourly service to
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 central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...
and , operated by Class 360 Desiro trains. During peak hours, two Corby services go to and from . As of May 2021, fast "EMR Intercity" services to , and run through the station at high speed but do not call at the station - apart from during peak hours and on Sunday mornings, when a limited number of services stop to provide connections north. Interchange with faster services at other times can be made at Kettering. *2tph to
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 ...
*2tph to via Kettering


Travel times

Travel times to London, Corby, Melton Mowbray, Nottingham and Lincoln (from May 2009). All services are operated by East Midlands Railway. *51-5 mins to
London St Pancras International 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 central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It i ...
*35 mins to *35 mins to *13 mins to *7 mins to *16 mins to *39 mins to Afternoon peak only *54 mins to Afternoon peak only *17 mins to *34 mins to *46 mins to *58 mins to *1h 5 mins to *2 hours to Afternoon peak only


Development

;Station improvementsThe Borough Council of Wellingborough: Growth Area Development May 2009
accessed 22 November 2009
As part of the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
's ''Access for all'' programme,
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 ...
's Midland Main Line upgrade, and local housing developments, the station platforms have been upgraded, with improved accessibility access by providing lifts, replacing the flat
barrow crossing There are around 6,000 level crossings in the United Kingdom, of which about 1,500 are public highway crossings. This number is gradually being reduced as the risk of accidents at level crossings is considered high. The director of the UK Rail ...
at end of the platforms. In August 2010, the local council gave planning permission for Network Rail to build lifts and to fit new internal toilets one of the disused buildings in the station. As a wider part of the Network Rail upgrade, the Midland Main Line between Bedford and Corby has been electrified, with the fourth track reinstalled between Sharnbrook Junction and Kettering, which resulted in the rebuilding and opening of Wellingborough's platform 4 in 2021. A station building on platform 4 is planned for access to the large Stanton Cross mixed-use development. In March 2022, work to restore the platform canopies was completed. ;Car parking The new 'South' car park has been built as a replacement for the 'North' car park which is still open. The replacement was built because of the Wellingborough East (Stanton Cross) development, as a new road bridge would start where the 'North' car park is situated and then go over the railway.The Borough Council of Wellingborough: Growth Area Development November 2007
accessed November 2009


References


External links


National Rail: Wellingborough (WEL) station planNational Rail: Live departures, Wellingborough
{{Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations in Northamptonshire DfT Category C2 stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857 Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Wellingborough Charles Henry Driver railway stations 1857 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Northamptonshire