Beeston railway station

Beeston
Beeston Station in 2012
Location
Place	Beeston
Local authority	Borough of Broxtowe
Grid reference	SK533362
Operations
Station code	BEE
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	0.484 million
– Interchange	46,452
2011/12	0.540 million
– Interchange	73,307
2012/13	0.546 million
– Interchange	77,129
2013/14	0.573 million
– Interchange	83,960
2014/15	0.610 million
– Interchange	85,292
History
Key dates	Opened 1839 (1839)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Beeston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Beeston railway station is a railway station on the Midland Main Line which serves the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 3.2 miles (5.1 km) south-west of Nottingham railway station, and 750 metres (0.5 mi) south-east of Beeston transport interchange for local buses and Nottingham Express Transit trams. The station is managed by East Midlands Trains.

Description

Beeston station is on the Midland Main Line, 123 miles 22 chains (198.4 km) from London, on the spur towards Nottingham.^[1] There are two platforms: platform 1 to the north for trains towards Nottingham and Lincoln and platform 2 to the south for trains towards London, Leicester, Birmingham and Derby. The platforms may be accessed either by steps from the Station Road bridge or by short ramps from Station Road for Platform 1 or Technology Drive for Platform 2.

Services

East Midlands Trains Meridian 222019 calls at Beeston with a London-Nottingham service.

British Royal Train with 67026 Diamond Jubilee following Elizabeth II's visit to Nottingham on 13 June 2012.

Services at Beeston are provided by East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry, with the former providing most services and managing the station. There are usually 4 trains per hour from each direction. The East Midlands Trains stopping service between London and Nottingham (via Loughborough, Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway) calls in each direction, as do the Leicester-Lincoln Central via Newark Castle and the Newark Castle/Nottingham-Matlock via Derby services. The hourly CrossCountry Nottingham-Birmingham New Street via Derby service also stops here, along with a few through trains to/from Cardiff Central. There is also a single daily direct CrossCountry southbound only service to Bournemouth via Derby, Birmingham New Street and Reading.^[2]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Long Eaton		CrossCountry Birmingham - Nottingham		Nottingham
Derby		CrossCountry Nottingham to Bournemouth (Limited service, southbound only)
Attenborough		East Midlands Trains Derwent Valley Line
East Midlands Parkway		East Midlands Trains Leicester - Lincoln
Loughborough		East Midlands Trains Midland Main Line

Facilities

Passenger numbers using the station have risen substantially in recent years, facilities include: a ticket office and ticket vending machines, a café, bicycle racks, car parking and taxi rank.^[3]

The Derby-Nottingham section of Route 6 of the National Cycle Network passes by the station and provides a traffic free cycle route to the University of Nottingham.

Network Rail have a long term aspiration to extend both platforms by up to 69 metres.^[4]

East Midlands Trains have a long term aspiration to provide lifts at Beeston railway station.^[5]

History

The station in 1840

The station was built in 1839 for the Midland Counties Railway.^[6] Services began on 4 June 1839. In 1844 the Midland Counties Railway joined with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway.

The first station from Nottingham, at the time it was very popular with people from the city who wished to spend a day in the countryside, desiring "fresh air and recreation".

The original station building, which was little more than a cottage, was replaced in 1847 with the substantially larger white brick building with ashlar trimmings which still exists. This is notable for its carved bargeboards, some remaining diagonal paned windows and the pseudo-heraldic shields with 'MR' and '1847'.^[7] The wooden platform canopies and adjacent wrought-iron and glass canopy were installed in 1871. The wooden platform canopies were originally located at Southwell railway station, and were relocated to Beeston when Southwell was rebuilt.^[8]

The growth of Beeston led to substantial expansion of the station facilities in the Edwardian period. An extension containing a large booking hall, ladies' waiting room and parcels office was added to the rear of the station building, doubling its floorspace.

The station in 1967

Beeston station front in 2006

In 1937 the Midland Railway drew up plans for an additional waiting room on platform 2 but the plan was never put into action.

Post-WWII

Dedication plaque on the Station Road bridge.

The level crossing, lattice footbridge and signal box survived until 1969 when Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council built a road bridge ("Station Bridge") across the railway to ease traffic delays caused by the frequent closure of the level crossing. This effectively replaced the footbridge between the two platforms.

With the decline in passenger numbers in the 1980s, the entire station suffered from vandalism and neglect, and British Rail proposed complete demolition. A spirited campaign by the local civic society and rail historians led to the listing of the station building in 1987. A separate listing application was made in the early 1990s and the platform shelters were also listed. This was followed by restoration of what remained of the 1847 building and the platform shelters. The (architecturally undistinguished) extension was demolished, revealing the original gables on the north side of the building.

The original platform masonry survived until 2004 when the platforms were completely rebuilt.

• 

  28 January 2004

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  5 February 2004

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  6 February 2004

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  18 February 2004

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  18 February 2004

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  Rebuilt platforms, 21 July 2005

Nottingham remodelling scheme

Between 20 July and 25 August 2013, the services from the station were reduced because of the Nottingham remodelling and resignalling scheme.^[9] It acted as a terminus for trains from London via East Midlands Parkway and from Derby, with a frequent rail-replacement shuttle bus running to and from Nottingham while the western end of the station and approach lines were remodelled.

Beeston station staff

Station Masters

1881 census

The railway employed a large number of local people. The 1881 census for Beeston^[15] shows 141 men with railway employment although there is no evidence that they all worked in Beeston.

• Clerks: George Adcock age 20, William Eaton age 21, William Jas. Lee age 43, George Little age 29, Jos. Har. Hampton age 33, William Wildman age 27
• Foremen: Benjamin Baker age 38 (Foreman of Pointsmen), Robert Paling age 39, John Mills age 34, Jas. Searle age 46 (assistant), William Robinson age 37, Isaac Taylor age 33, John Richardson age 29
• Labourers: George Harper age 20, William Stewart age 23, John Stewart age 29, Walter Stewart age 20, William Greasley age 32, Richard Hewitt age 25, Joseph Dennis age 55, John Reynolds age 45, Robert Reynolds age 21, Thomas Spray age 56, John Cartwright age 25, Arthur Atkin age 23, Benjamin Broadley age 41, Frederick Paling age 36, Richard Mitchell age 18, Joseph Hewitt age 18, Richard Whittaker age 52, William Smith age 24, John Walker age 48, James Lawton age 23, William Taft age 26, Arthur Taft age 21, Herbert Taft, William Hollingsworth age 21, Samuel Towlson age 37, Joseph Williams age 19, Frederick Salmon age 26, Joseph Wright age 32, William Kilburn age 31, Thomas Kirby age 45, Charles Stapleton age 27, Jas. Beeby age 27, Daniel Harris age 31, John William Chalk age 27, John Cooper age 31, Thomas Murden age 24, George Bailey age 42, John E Makins age 23, George Turner age 25, William Alvery age 44, Edward Alvery age 23, Samuel Alvery age 18, Henry Mee age 37, John Morley age 35, Richard Mitchell age 18, Thomas Mundill age 20, William Hollingsworth age 21, Henry Cordon age 20, Edward Houlton age 18, John Collington age 21, Joseph Oldham age 31, Edward R.H.L. Harrison age 17, Richard Chamberlain age 23, John Chamberlain age 18, Joseph Hardy age 24, Samuel Coville age 28, William Coville age 68, William Goddard, George Hazledine age 37, William Newbert age 32, John Lewis age 22, Edward Lewis age 17
• Platelayers: Thomas Coope age 41, Jarman Johnson age 31, John Richardson age 52
• Pointsmen: John Gumley age 26, John Stroyan age 28, Harry William Froth age 23, William Simpson age 26
• Porters: George Brandell age 22, William Fisher age 22, Alfred Cowley age 21, William Jones age 40, Jas. Arthur Hardy age 24, Jas. Staff age 25, Alfred Cowley age 21, Edward Heat age 22, William Clark age 26, David Warner age 24, Edward Draper age 22, Gerald Blackwell age 22, William Westlake age 31
• Servants: Edward Throssell age 25, John Dunham age 26, James Kiffe age 24, William Mould age 18, James Walker age 26, James Harper age 34, James Dale age 31, Thomas Houlgate age 26, William Cunningham age 21
• Shunters: Samuel Hollingsworth age 22, John Bettles age 26
• Signalmen: Thomas Harris age 37, William Waplington age 30, Edward Price age 38, J.V. Francis age 24, George Hall age 23, Charles Groom age 21, John Hancock age 27, John Moore age 30, William Hillery age 26, Robert Groom age 35, Arthur Whitworth age 25, Robert W. Banks age 23, Edward Baguley age 43
• Stationmaster: Samuel Theodore Bunning age 34
• Wagon Builders: Walter Arch age 29, Andrew Jackson age 36 (Examiner), John Fletcher age 43
• Miscellaneous: Jas Chamberlain age 40 - Railway Contractor, Edward Clifford age 21 - Railway Wheel Sounder, Jas. Fairborn age 24 - Railway Carriage Inspector, Sam Fox age 20 - Railway Stoker, William Steer age 39 - Railway Guard, George Brough age 31 - Railway Collector, Joseph O'Rell age 60 - Engine Driver, Jas. Rogers age 60 - Railway Superintendent, William Barker age 73 - Railway Asphalter, Arthur Clacey age 24 - Railway Ticket Collector

Miscellaneous

In 1864, John Ashe is listed as the booking clerk.

Leslie Blood worked in the booking office from 1926 to 1939 when he was promoted to the position of Stationmaster at Stoke Golding.

Sir Neil Cossons, now Chairman of English Heritage, worked as a junior porter in his youth.

Station Master's House

Old Station Masters House in 2006

• The first station masters house built in 1839 was a small cabin.
• A larger building, originally at Southwell was moved to Beeston and erected in 1857.
• The Station Master's House at 211 Station Road is now private property, used as Station House Children's Day Nursery.

Other information

• The Victoria Hotel public house is adjacent to the Nottingham platform and has its own gate access to the platform, for which it reputedly paid an annual peppercorn rent of 50 pence. The gate was locked out of use for a number of years, so access to the Victoria Hotel was via Technology Drive or Barton St, however it was opened for access again in 2014.
• There was also a Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station in Cheshire, England, for the villages of Beeston and Tarporley. Between 1840 and 1868 it was called simply "Beeston".

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beeston railway station.

• Train times and station information for Beeston railway station from National Rail
• "Picture the Past" Beeston Station c1904
• "Picture the Past" Beeston Station c1910
• "Pictures of Beeston Station taken in 2004"
• See Beeston railway station on Google Street View.

Coordinates: 52°55′14″N 1°12′29″W / 52.92056°N 1.20806°W / 52.92056; -1.20806