Mansfield railway station (England)

Sign for Mansfield Town station at the Midland Railway Centre, Swanwick

The town was originally the terminus of the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway, built in 1819. It was bought by the Midland Railway, which used the final section to extend its new Leen Valley line to the present station in 1849. The station opened for passenger traffic without ceremony on Tuesday 9 October 1849.[2] The line suffered from some teething problems in its early days. The Derby Mercury of 24 October 1849 criticised the quality of construction noting that:

engines have been off the line in the station yard at Mansfield several times since the opening on Tuesday week. The curves here are so sharp that a small engine can scarcely pull a train of four or five carriages out of the year. On Sunday [21 October 1849] morning last as the train due in at nine a.m. was coming in, the engine went off the rails, and it took upwards of half an hour to get it on again; so that the train, which ought to have quitted Mansfield at 9.15 a.m. did not leave until 10 min. to 10 a.m. Surely some alterations will be made to prevent future accidents of this description.[3]

In September 1850 the fares on the line to Nottingham were halved, and the number of passenger doubled.[4]

The present station building was constructed by the Midland Railway in 1872;[1] to the designs of the architect John Holloway Sanders.[5] The contractor was C. Humphreys. The new station was opened on Friday 1 March 1872.[6] The principal entrance was from Queen Street, by a path parallel with the viaduct. The station now comprised two platforms. The down platform had the main station building with a booking hall with oak floors, Ladies’ first class waiting room, Gentlemen’s first class waiting room, Ladies’ second class waiting room, and booking and parcel offices. On one side of the building was the porters’ room and the lamp room, and at the other end there was a fish house, and carriage and horse dock. On the up platform there was a boiler room to provide hot water for foot warmers, a Ladies’ waiting room, and the office of the stationmaster. The down line platform was 105 yards (96 m) and the up line platform was 67 yards (61 m) longer to accommodate Southwell trains. The platforms were equipped with pedants and pedestals for illumination at night.

This improvement to the station took place at the same time as the engineer to the Midland Railway company, John Crossley, implemented a deviation of the railway between Sutton and Mansfield of around 1.25 miles (2.01 km) avoiding three sharp curves, the worst at King’s mill. The new line included four bridges and a viaduct over the Hermitage reservoir.[6]

The station building acquired listed building status, but following closure in 1964 Mansfield remained isolated from the railway system until 1995, when the Robin Hood Line was reopened to Nottingham.

Before the station was reopened in 1995, the town was the largest in the United Kingdom without one, all the more remarkable when it is considered that Mansfield pioneered the railway in the East Midlands. The then-nearest railway station, Alfreton, was known as Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway.

Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a half-hourly service from Mansfield to Nottingham (southbound), and one to Mansfield Woodhouse (northbound) with an hourly service onwards to Worksop. There is an hourly service during the evenings between Nottingham and Worksop. There is also one daily service Mondays to Fridays from Mansfield Woodhouse directly to Norwich; however, there is no corresponding service in the opposite direction.

On Sundays an irregular service (nine trains each way) runs between Nottingham and Mansfield Woodhouse only.[11]

The station has the PlusBus scheme, where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. It is connected via skybridge to Mansfield bus station.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mansfield railway station.

• Train times and station information for Mansfield railway station (England) from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Sutton Parkway		East Midlands Railway Robin Hood Line		Mansfield Woodhouse
	Disused railways
Blidworth and Rainworth Line and station closed		Midland Railway Rolleston Junction to Mansfield		Terminus