Belper railway station

Belper railway station is a railway station serving the town of Belper in Derbyshire. The station is located on the Midland Main Line from Derby to Leeds.

1 History
2 Present day
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

After leaving the Milford Tunnel the train crosses the river before entering Belper. The line was surveyed by George Stephenson for the North Midland Railway Company, and opened in 1840. The original intention was to proceed along the western bank of the River Derwent opposite the town, but Jedediah Strutt, who by then had become the primary landowner, wished it to be out of sight. Moreover, he feared that it would interfere with the supply of water to the mills. The railway, therefore, was built through a long cutting, at enormous (and unexpected) expense, with twelve bridges in the space of a mile. The cutting, lined with gritstone, is now a grade 2 listed building.

The original station was built on the south side of Belper, just before the cutting, designed by Francis Thompson in an Italianate design. A coach, or omnibus, ran regularly to it from the Lion Hotel in Bridge Street. However this proved so unpopular that the Midland Railway built a new station in 1878 within the cutting, at the town centre, next to King Street.

This had platforms with access ramps for each of the two lines, both provided with waiting rooms, in the standard Midland Railway design . The booking office and other facilities were at street level.

North of Belper, the engineers paid the penalty of following a river valley, with two long bridges over Belper Pool, plus two more, before reaching Ambergate.

[edit] Present day

In 1973 the station buildings were demolished. The bridge carrying King Street over the line was widened for a supermarket to be built by Fine Fare (now Somerfield).

The station is unmanned and operated by Central Trains. Access is either through a narrow alleyway from King Street, or from the Field Lane car park and across the rear of the supermarket. For journeys beginning at Belper, tickets may be bought on the train for any destination in the country. (From Derby, tickets must be bought at the ticket office) Journey time to Derby is approximately 11 mniutes. During service disruption, buses will pick up or set down outside Wilkinson's store in King Street.

It is served by two operators.

Central Trains is the principal operator, with local services from Derby to Matlock via the Derwent Valley Line. Services are approximately 2-hourly and are formed using diesel multiple units of Classes 150, 153, 156, 158 or 170.
Midland Mainline operate express services from London St. Pancras to Sheffield via Leicester and Derby. These services stop infrequently at Belper, mainly during the morning and evening peaks and are formed using diesel multiple units of Class 222 Meridians.

In 2005 the station has been refurbished with new shelters, seats, train indicators - and rubbish bins - by a consortium of local volunteers, work experience trainees and the local councils, with the active support of Network Rail and Central Trains.

The cutting slices through a row of workers' houses.

Notice commemorating the refurbishment in 2005.

[edit] References

Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
The North Midland Railway Guide, (1842) Republished 1973, Leeds: Turntable Enterprises
Naylor, P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris