Old Dalby railway station

Old Dalby railway station served Old Dalby in the English county of Leicestershire. It was opened on the Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway between London and Nottingham, avoiding Leicester. The line still exists today as the Old Dalby Test Track.

Old Dalby
Test site of nuclear flask test south of Old Dalby station.
General information
LocationOld Dalby, Melton
England
Coordinates52.8095°N 0.9937°W / 52.8095; -0.9937
Platforms2[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyMidland Railway
Pre-groupingMidland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways
Key dates
2 February 1880[2]Station opens
1 June 1964[3]Closes to goods
18 April 1966Closes to passengers

History

The station was opened for goods on 1 November 1879[1] and to passengers on 2 February 1880[1] by the Midland Railway. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.[4]

It was on its cut-off line from Melton Mowbray to Nottingham, which had opened the previous year to allow the railway company's expresses between London and the North to avoid reversal at Nottingham. It also improved access to and from the iron-ore fields in Leicestershire and Rutland. Local traffic was minimal but the presence of two army bases built during the last war and the exchange sidings traffic prolonged the life of the station but it eventually succumbed and closed to passengers in 1966.[5]

According to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were handled by this station in 1956: G, P, F, L, H, C and there was a 1-ton 10 cwt crane.[6]

Stationmasters
  • John J. Shrieves 1879 - 1887
  • William Drake 1887 - 1903[7] (afterwards station master at Harlington, Bedfordshire until 1909 when he was killed by a goods train)
  • Sidney William Varnam 1903 - 1906 (formerly station master at Burton Joyce)
  • Alfred Ballard 1906 - 1921[8] (afterwards station master at Shefford)
  • William Albert Thorneycroft 1921 - 1928
  • Percy Harry Hyde 1930 - 1939[9] (afterwards station master at Tewkesbury)
  • Reginald W. Whitehead B.E.M. 1940 - 1947[10] (afterwards station master at Moira)
  • Arthur W. Flewitt 1959[11] - 1963 (formerly station master at Chatburn)
  • Jack Glover 1963 - 1969
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Upper Broughton   Midland Railway
Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway		   Grimston

Present day

Following the closure of the line as a through-route in 1968, the track between Melton Mowbray and Edwalton was converted for use as the Old Dalby Test Track, used initially for the Advanced Passenger Train project and, more recently, for Class 390 Pendolino units.[12] The station building was timber and did not survive but the timber goods shed still exists. Old Dalby was the site of the original control centre for the line in BR days equipped with utility buildings and a small workshop. Later the operations centre was moved to Asfordby when Alstom took over. Today there are still sidings at Old Dalby and an enlarged workshop and new track layout to accommodate the London Underground trains on test. The transformer and 750DC power supply for the 3rd/4th rail system is also located here. The station master's house survives by the roadside as a private residence and the weighbridge as a domestic garage.

References
  1. Aldworth, Colin (2012). The Nottingham and Melton Railway 1872 - 2012.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 177.
  3. Clinker, C.R., (1978) Clinker’s Register of Closed Station, Avon Anglia ISBN 0-905466-19-5
  4. "Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. Shannon, Paul (2007). Nottinghamshire (British Railways Past and Present). Kettering, Northants: Past & Present Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-85895-253-6.
  6. Official Handbook of Stations,British Transport Commission, 1956.
  7. "Railway Changes". Grantham Journal. England. 22 August 1903. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Presentation". Biggleswade Chronicle. England. 28 October 1921. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Tewkesbury's New Stationmaster". Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer. England. 28 January 1939. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Old Dalby Wartime Stationmaster Going To Moira". Leicester Evening Mail. England. 31 October 1947. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Stationmaster at Chatburn". Clitheroe Advertiser and Times. England. 13 March 1959. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. Shannon, P., p. 23.
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