Abbots Ripton railway station

The station was opened by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) on 1 November 1885 as Abbotts Ripton.[1] The GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) during the Grouping on 1 January 1923. Renamed Abbots Ripton in 1938,[1] the station then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and was closed by the British Transport Commission on 15 September 1958.[1]

An accident occurred at the future site of the station on 21 January 1876, when the southbound Flying Scotsman express train from Edinburgh to London was involved in a double collision during a blizzard. Heavy snow had frozen around the semaphore signal arms, causing them to stick in the "clear" position, as a result of which the driver of the express was not warned of the presence of a coal train which was backing from the main line into a siding. A collision occurred, and not long after, a northbound express from London to Leeds ran into the wreckage. There were thirteen fatalities, and 53 passengers and 6 traincrew members were injured.[2][3][4]

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
• Jowett, A. (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas. Atlantic Publishing. ISBN 0-906899-99-0.
• Kichenside, Geoffrey (1997). Dixon-Spain, Charles (ed.). Great Train Disasters. Avonmouth: Parragon. ISBN 0-7525-2229-9.
• Rolt, L.T.C.; Kichenside, Geoffrey (1982) [1955]. Red for Danger (4th ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8362-0.
• Tyler, H.W. (23 February 1876). "The Report of the Court of Enquiry - Double Collision on the Great Northern Railway which occurred at Abbotts Ripton on the 21st January 1876" (PDF). Retrieved 26 May 2008.

• Abbot's Ripton station on navigable O. S. map