Plumtree railway station

Plumtree railway station served Plumtree in the English county of Nottinghamshire, on the Midland Railway Manton direct route between London and Nottingham, avoiding Leicester. The station is now closed, although the line still exists today as the Old Dalby Test Track.

Plumtree
Main station building in 2008.
LocationPlumtree, Rushcliffe
England
Coordinates52.885260°N 1.083498°W / 52.885260; -1.083498
Platforms2[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyMidland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways
Key dates
2 February 1880[2]Station opens as Plumtree & Keyworth
1 May 1893Renamed
28 February 1949Closes to passengers
1 November 1965[3]Closes to goods

History

The station was opened for goods (1 November 1879) [4] & passengers (2 February 1880) [4] by the Midland Railway. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.[5]

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 and Plumtree closed to passengers as early as 1949.[6]

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.[7]

In 1910, nine trains each way stopped at Plumtree Station. The earliest train to Nottingham was 7.02, and to Melton Mowbray 6.55. A passenger catching this latter service could expect to be in London St Pancras by 10.55 a.m. Sunday services were virtually non-existent, with only the morning milk train (7.49) to Nottingham (and no way of getting back that day!)

Stationmasters
  • George T. Bursnell 1879 - 1883
  • James C. Chidgey 1883 - 1886 (afterwards station master at Spondon)[8]
  • W.G. Nutall 1886 - 1888
  • J. Walters 1888 - 1890
  • Edwin Charles Harvey 1890 - 1919
  • Mr. Gardner ca. 1921
  • A.H. Hemmings from 1936[9] (formerly station master at Dudbridge)
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Edwalton   Midland Railway
Manton Route		   Widmerpool

Present day

Following the closure of the line as a through-route in 1968, the track between Melton Mowbray and Nottingham was reused as far as Edwalton and became the Old Dalby Test Track. This was used initially for the Advanced Passenger Train project and, more recently, Class 390 Pendolino units.[10] It is currently used for testing London Underground trains 'S Stock' units.

The main station buildings have survived and have been converted into 'Perkins Restaurant'.[11] A conservatory extension has been built on the platform and the former goods shed has been tastefully restored as a function room.[12]

References
  1. "Old Dalby Test Track - Plumtree station". Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  2. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. p. 186.
  3. Clinker, C.R., (1978) Clinker’s Register of Closed Station, Avon Anglia ISBN 0-905466-19-5
  4. Aldworth, Colin (2012). The Nottingham and Melton Railway 1872 - 2012.
  5. "Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. Shannon, Paul (2007). Nottinghamshire (British Railways Past and Present). Kettering, Northants: Past & Present Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-85895-253-6.
  7. Official Handbook of Stations,British Transport Commission, 1956.
  8. "Plumtree". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 18 February 1887. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Plumtree Stationmaster". Nottingham Journal. England. 11 June 1936. Retrieved 6 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. Shannon, P., p. 23.
  11. "Perkins Restaurant". Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  12. "The Carriage Hall". Retrieved 11 April 2010.
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