Darnall railway station

Darnall railway station was built to serve Darnall, a community about 3 miles (5 km) from the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and which later became a suburb of the city.

Darnall
The station in 2008
LocationDarnall, City of Sheffield
England
Coordinates53.384500°N 1.412300°W / 53.384500; -1.412300
Grid referenceSK391876
Managed byNorthern Trains
Transit authorityTravel South Yorkshire
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeDAN
Fare zoneSheffield
ClassificationDfT category F2
Key dates
12 February 1849Opened (Darnal)[1]
1887Renamed (Darnall)
Passengers
2015/16 12,454
2016/17 14,094
2017/18 13,156
2018/19 13,024
2019/20 13,450
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

As of March 2020, Darnall is the least used railway station in the County of South Yorkshire.[2]

History

The station was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (M.S.& L.R.) with two platforms flanking the main lines. The main station building, on the Cleethorpes-bound side, contained the usual facilities, and was situated at the top of Station Road; a waiting shelter on the Sheffield-bound platform gave passengers some comfort. Widening took place in the area just prior to World War I and two "goods" lines were laid around the back of the platforms. This was to increase capacity of the line and aid the movement of coal traffic towards Immingham Docks, opened in 1912.[3] This work required the removal of Darnall tunnel about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) to the east of the station.

The tracks through Darnall were electrified from 1955 to 1981, though only to allow electrically-hauled goods trains to reach Rotherwood Yard. There was also a chord line round to Attercliffe Junction on the former South Yorkshire Railway line towards Rotherham Central and Doncaster until the late 1980s - this was removed after the closure of the old Darnall West signal box in 1989.

Present station

The station itself was rebuilt in 1928 to an island platform design, much favoured by the Great Central, which the M.S.& L.R. had become on the opening of its extension to London (Marylebone) in 1899. In this redesign the tracks in the centre of the layout, the "Down Main" (in the direction of Sheffield) and the "Up Goods" (in the direction of Cleethorpes) became the "Up" and "Down" main lines and served the platform faces; the original "Up Main" (in the direction of Cleethorpes) and the "Down Goods" (in the direction of Sheffield) became the "Up Goods" and "Down Goods" respectively.

Darnall was one of the first stations in the area to be destaffed since tickets are now sold on board. The station is a shadow of its former self, with just a simple waiting shelter on its platform. Passenger numbers are low and rumours of closure regularly circulate.

Services

Northern Trains operates an hourly westbound service to Sheffield and an hourly eastbound service to Gainsborough Central. At peak times, a small number of extra trains run to Lincoln and Leeds. On Saturdays, three of the Gainsborough trains continue through to Cleethorpes via Brigg.[4]

A more limited service runs from the station on Sundays, with an hourly service westbound to Sheffield, with some trains continuing to Huddersfield, whilst seven trains run eastbound to Retford and Lincoln.

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains
Sheffield-Gainsborough Central
Historical railways
Line open, station closed
Great Central Railway
Line and station open

References

  1. "Darnall". Disused Stations. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  2. "Estimates of station usage 2018/19". Office of Rail and Road. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  3. Booth, Chris (April 2016). "Exploring the Lincoln to Sheffield Route". Today's Railways (172): 56. ISSN 1475-9713.
  4. Table 30 National Rail timetable, May 2019


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