Atherstone railway station

Atherstone
Standing on the northbound platform looking south, towards London.
Location
Place	Atherstone
Local authority	Borough of North Warwickshire
Coordinates	52°34′44″N 1°33′11″W / 52.579°N 1.553°WCoordinates: 52°34′44″N 1°33′11″W / 52.579°N 1.553°W
Grid reference	SP304979
Operations
Station code	ATH
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	65,340
2011/12	77,558
2012/13	83,342
2013/14	99,974
2014/15	120,764
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Atherstone from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Atherstone is a railway station serving the town of Atherstone in Warwickshire, England. It is located on the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line, exactly 102 miles from London Euston station, as a placard on an adjacent building announces. The station is conveniently located near the A5.

History

The station was opened by the London and North Western Railway, and was absorbed by the London Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

In 1860 it was the site of a rail accident in which 10 people died.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by the Regional Railways Sector until the Privatisation of British Railways. There was a threat to the Livock designed station building in the early 1980s, but thanks to the efforts of local group The Railway and Steam Traction Society demolition plans were put on hold. Eventually the building was fully restored by 1985, with Donald Willets using it as offices.

Services

London Midland provide an hourly service in each direction; southbound to London Euston via Nuneaton, Rugby and Milton Keynes, and northbound to Crewe via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. This is a substantial increase in service from the 1980s and 1990s where the station saw just half a dozen local trains a day, none of which went further north than Stafford or further south than Rugby. Passenger use at the station has shown strong growth since the introduction of the new service.

From December 2012 Atherstone was part of London Midland's "Project 110" scheme which saw the Euston-Crewe service take the express train route via Weedon rather than travel via the Northampton loop line. As a result, Atherstone lost its direct link with Northampton but the journey time to/from London was cut by 30 minutes, with most trains now timetabled to take 82 minutes to reach the capital. However, a few trains do go via Northampton Monday - Saturday and all go via Northampton on Sundays.^[1]

Gallery

• 

  The restored station building.

• 

  Steam locomotive 60163 Tornado at Atherstone station

References

1. "London Midland reveals details of its Project 110". Rail.co.uk / London Midland. 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-06.

• 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. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Station on navigable O.S. map

External links

• Train times and station information for Atherstone railway station from National Rail
• Atherstone railway station at Atherstone Organised
• Historical photographs at www.warwickshirerailways.com