Derby Midland railway station
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Derby Midland station (often called Derby station) is a main-line railway station serving the city of Derby in England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by the Midland Mainline train operating company, the station is also used by Central Trains and Virgin Trains services. It is situated to the south-east of Derby city centre, and is close to the west bank of the River Derwent.
Derby's central location and former importance as a "railway town" have made it an important node of the rail network. Until recently, major carriage and locomotive workshops as well as the Research Division in the Railway Technical Centre were housed there.
The station is an interchange point between the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Leeds and long-distance services on the Cross-Country route from Aberdeen through Birmingham to Penzance (the zero milepost on the Birmingham-bound Cross-Country route is at the south end of platform 1, at the divergence of the two major routes). Until the mid twentieth century, the station was host to through trains from Manchester and Glasgow to London. It is still a busy station, the section to Sheffield having the highest train frequency (passenger and freight) of any line in the East Midlands.
Local services to Matlock along the Derwent Valley Line originate from Derby, and the station also sees local and semi-fast services to Nottingham and Skegness, Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe, and Birmingham, Hereford, and Cardiff.
Derby station today has six platforms (all but Platform 5 are through platforms), connected by a footbridge, used as an exit to Pride Park and a new car park. (Another bridge which gave access to the area had been removed when the Locomotive Works (part of BREL, Derby Railway Works) closed.
Derby Station history
1836 saw the approval by Parliament of plans for the construction of three railways to Derby: the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway from the south, the Midland Counties Railway from the east, and the North Midland Railway from the north. Separate stations were initially envisaged but the town council farsightedly suggested the three companies build a joint station, and after much haggling a site was finally selected beside the River Derwent on the south-eastern side of the town. The first departure from the Tri Junct Station, as it was known, was on 4 June, 1839 when a Midland Counties train ran to Nottingham. The first train to Birmingham departed on 12 August in the same year, though construction of the North Midland line took longer: it was opened from Derby to Rotherham Masborough on 11 May 1840, and completed to Leeds seven weeks later.As originally built by the North Midland, with the others paying a share, it was 1,050 feet long with one through platform plus a north and a south bay, the main platform and bays connected to seven stabling roads by a series of carriage turntables (rolling-stock was moved around the station by hand). These platform and stabling roads were all beneath a three-bay train shed, which allowed the three companies a degree of independence. Fronting this was a magnificent two-storey stone building designed by Francis Thompson. The North Midland also built a group of workers' houses, some of which are now a conservation area.
In 1844 all three railways amalgamated to become the Midland Railway, and Derby station became the new company's headquarters.
In 1858 the station was extended with extra offices, improved facilities and a covered areas for carriages for arriving and departing passengers. Traffic increased such that an island platform, the present 2 & 3, was built, with Platforms 4 to 6 in 1871 (platform 5 being a bay to the south). At this time the turntables were removed and replaced by scissors crossovers, the whole complex controlled by a signal box on the centre platform.
As originally built, the Birmingham and the North Midlands lines met end on, with the Midland Counties arriving at the north of the station. The Midland Railway decided that the last named would be the main London line, and in 1867 a loop was added to the south, allowing through running. The original section remained in occasional use for passenger trains until it was closed in 1969.
The station and the extensive complex of railway workshops adjoining it were of sufficient strategic importance for them to have been the target of a Zeppelin bombing raid during World War I, in 1916, though only slight damage was inflicted. In World War II the station was attacked again, becoming one of the few locations in Derby to suffer significant bomb damage.
The overall roof of the train shed and platform six were severely damaged, with the loss of most of the rest of the glass, although the Victorian frontage of the station survived.
Comparison of photographs taken of the street side of the station in the early 1900s and the 1970s show little outward change. On the track side, however, extensive rebuilding of the platform buildings, footbridge and awnings in 1952, using pre-stressed concrete, gave the station a very different appearance, with simple functional lines.
With the advent of power signalling in 1969, the signal box and the crossovers disappeared, and the tracks approaching the station were relaid to allow trains from any direction to enter or leave any platform.
Further work in 1985 saw the final replacement of the ageing Victorian station entrance and booking hall by a more modern design. The entrance's original clock was moved to the north end of the car park and the coats of arms of the Midland Railway and of the City of Derby were affixed to the new frontage. More recent refurbishments have seen the installation of a very large electronic departure board in the station entrance hall and the opening of a new footbridge in 2005.
Reference
- Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
Facilities
- Cash points
- WH Smith
- Upper Crust
- Dry cleaners
- Photo booths
- FastTicket machine
External links
- *[Train times] and [station information] for from National Rail
- [Street map] and [aerial photo] of from Multimap.com
- [Page with more info on the station]
- ["Science and Society" Trackside view of original Station]
- ["Science and Society" 'Derby Railway Station and Midland Hotel', 1840]
- ["Derbyshire Photographs" Derby Station as it was in 1902]
- ["Geograph British Isles" Derby Station as it is now]
- [Description of Derby station on the Midland Mainline website]
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