Darnall railway station

Darnall
Location
Place	Darnall
Local authority	City of Sheffield
Coordinates	53°23′04″N 1°24′44″W / 53.384500°N 1.412300°WCoordinates: 53°23′04″N 1°24′44″W / 53.384500°N 1.412300°W
Grid reference	SK391876
Operations
Station code	DAN
Managed by	Northern
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	10,958
2011/12	12,310
2012/13	12,394
2013/14	10,902
2014/15	12,994
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Travel South Yorkshire
Zone	Sheffield
History
12 February 1849	Opened (Darnal)[1]
1887	Renamed (Darnall)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Darnall from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

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.

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.^[2] 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.

The station is on the Sheffield-Lincoln line (Route SY4) and is also served by the infrequent Saturdays only service linking Sheffield and Cleethorpes via Brigg.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Sheffield		Northern Rail Sheffield-Lincoln Line		Woodhouse
Historical railways
Sheffield Victoria Line open, station closed		Great Central Railway Great Central Main Line		Woodhouse Line and station open

References

1. "Darnall". Disused Stations. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
2. Booth, Chris (April 2016). "Exploring the Lincoln to Sheffield Route". Today's Railways (172): 56. ISSN 1475-9713.