Wolverton railway station

Wolverton railway station serves northern Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, especially Wolverton, Stony Stratford, New Bradwell, and nearby villages in the Borough of Milton Keynes and south Northamptonshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line, about 52 miles (84 km) from Euston, between Milton Keynes Central and Northampton. The station is one of the six stations serving the Milton Keynes urban area.[lower-alpha 1]

Not to be confused with Wolverhampton railway station or Wolferton railway station.

Wolverton
LocationWolverton, Borough of Milton Keynes
England
Grid referenceSP820415
Managed byLondon Northwestern Railway
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeWOL
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened1838
Key dates
September 1838[1][2]First Wolverton station opened by L&BR
November 1840[2]Station relocated to new track alignment
1881[1]Station rebuilt for a second time
June 2012[3]Station relocated for a second time
Passengers
2015/16 0.426 million
2016/17 0.466 million
2017/18 0.460 million
2018/19 0.470 million
2019/20 0.452 million
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station has four platforms, of which just two (3 and 4) are normally in use.

History
Wolverton Station 1838

The first station was built for the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway on 17 September 1838, on the embankment just north of the canal above Wolverton Park.[1] It proved to be temporary as the railway company purchased an additional 13.5 acres to the south, where they built a larger, permanent station in 1840,[4] at the east end of Church Street.[5] The new station included refreshment rooms which employed a full-time staff of 29. A hotel was planned but never built. The waiting room was lavishly redecorated for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1844, who spent that Christmas as the guest of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. In 1881, the main line was re-routed a little to the east (see 'Wolverton bend' below) to allow for expansion of the Wolverton Works and a new station opened in August 1881.[1][6] The ticket hall was a wooden building on a new bridge above the railway line and passengers needed to reach the platforms via flights of stairs. The wooden station stood here for over 100 years until British Rail demolished it in about 1990.[1]

For many years after the wooden station building was demolished, Wolverton railway station was a temporary shed in the car park at track level. A new brick building to replace it was finally opened on 21 June 2012.[3] The new building is also at track level and access to all but the adjacent platform is via stairs.

In mid September 2012, the Transport Minister Norman Baker announced in a written answer that the Government had approved London Midland's request to reduce the opening hours of the new ticket office, from the previous 06:00 – 12:00 to 06:15 – 11:00 henceforth.[7]

In 2016, a coffee and snack kiosk opened in the new station booking hall.

Wolverton viaduct

To cross the valley of the river Great Ouse a little to the north, the Company built a six-arch viaduct in 1838, at a cost then of £38,000.[1][lower-alpha 2]

Wolverton bend and Northampton Loop

With the advent of fast trains, Wolverton gained notoriety among railwaymen for its famously tight curve. The curve was a result of the station and main line being moved eastward in 1881, to permit extension of the Wolverton Works. The path of the original route is visible at both the north and south ends of the divergence. The Advanced Passenger Train failed its trials here in the early 1990s but the Pendolino tilting trains passed them in the early 2000s. Near the station, the track crosses the valley of the Great Ouse on a viaduct. Slightly further north, the Northampton loop leaves the main line at Hanslope Junction. All normal-running trains that stop at Wolverton use the loop route via Northampton (rather than the fast lines direct to Rugby).

Newport Pagnell Branch Line (closed)
Main article: Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line

From 1865 to 1964, there was a branch line from Wolverton to Newport Pagnell, primarily for employees of Wolverton Works. In 1964 the line was closed to passengers by the Beeching cuts and freight ceased in 1967. Between 1817 and 1864, the section from Great Linford to Newport Pagnell was an arm of the Grand Junction Canal which was then drained to become the track-bed. The route from Wolverton to Newport Pagnell is now a redway. Along the redway, the platforms at New Bradwell and Great Linford are still in place, as are a signal post at Newport Pagnell and an iron bridge taking the line (now the redway) over the Grand Union Canal.

Accidents

In 1847, an accident just south of the (original) station caused the deaths of seven people.[1]

Services

Wolverton is served by trains operated by London Northwestern Railway. The typical off-peak service is:

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Northampton   London Northwestern Railway
Northampton loop		   Milton Keynes Central
  Historical railways  
Castlethorpe
Line open, station closed		   London and North Western Railway
West Coast Main Line		   Bletchley
Line and station open
Disused railways
Bradwell
Line and station closed		   London and North Western Railway
Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line		   Terminus

Platforms

The station has four platforms, of which just two are normally in use. Platforms 1 and 2 are the 'fast' lines and trains very rarely stop here: they are used by London Northwestern only during works and Avanti West Coast in emergency. Platforms 3 and 4 are used frequently by London Northwestern: Avanti West Coast services pass these platforms (without stopping) only during works.

Access to platforms is via long flights of stairs to a pedestrian overbridge, making the station unusable for people with mobility impairment.

Location
Wolverton railway station zoom in
Mapping © OpenStreetMap

The station is at the eastern end of Wolverton, near the junction of Stratford Rd with Grafton Street. The nearest post-code is MK12 5FR.[8] In the chainage notation traditionally used on the railway, its location on the line is 52 miles 33 chains (52.41 mi; 84.35 km) from Euston.[9]

See also

References
  1. Geoffrey Ealden; Anna McEvoy; Julia Newman; Andra Roach; Peter Smith. "Wolverton: From Aqueduct to Viaduct". Wolverton Society for Arts and Heritage and Milton Keynes Heritage Association. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
  2. Mapley family history – Accessed 7 December 2007
  3. "Mayor reveals plaque at Wolverton train station". Milton Keynes Citizen. 28 June 2012.
  4. "Wolverton's Second Station". Milton Keynes: Living Archive. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  5. Ordnance Survey (1885). "Buckinghamshire IX (includes: Castlethorpe; Cosgrove; Old Stratford; Wolverton.)" (Map). OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952. 1:10,560. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  6. 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. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  7. MPs defend reduction in train ticket office opening hours – Milton Keynes Citizen, 18 September 2012
  8. Streetmap.co.uk
  9. Engineer's Line References RailwayCodes.org

Notes
  1. The others are Milton Keynes Central, Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Bow Brickhill, and Woburn Sands
  2. About £3,400,000 today

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.