Ridgmont railway station

Ridgmont National Rail
Location
Place Ridgmont
Local authority Central Bedfordshire
Coordinates 52°01′34″N 0°35′42″W / 52.026°N 0.595°W / 52.026; -0.595Coordinates: 52°01′34″N 0°35′42″W / 52.026°N 0.595°W / 52.026; -0.595
Grid reference SP965373
Operations
Station code RID
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*
2002/03   24,297
2004/05 Increase 28,021
2005/06 Decrease 26,503
2006/07 Increase 29,064
2007/08 Increase 29,346
2008/09 Decrease 28,824
2009/10 Decrease 24,028
2010/11 Decrease 23,008
2011/12 Increase 24,330
2012/13 Increase 24,816
2013/14 Increase 27,396
2014/15 Increase 35,428
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ridgmont from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ridgmont railway station is a small unstaffed railway station that serves the villages of Ridgmont in Bedfordshire (about 1 mile (2 km) away on the other side of the M1 Motorway at Junction 13), Brogborough and Husborne Crawley. It also serves the large Amazon.com warehouse next door.

It is on the BletchleyBedford Marston Vale Line.

The station is served by London Midland Bletchley — Bedford local services. Services are operated using Class 150/1 and Class 153 diesel multiple units. Single carriage Class 153s operate services in the timetable shown with the "Limited Bicycle Space" label. Although not geographically the midpoint of the line, many train services 'cross' at Ridgmont station so it is not unusual to see Class 153 and 150 trains at the same time. There is no Sunday passenger service timetabled although the line remains open with signalers on duty at the Marston Vale Signalling Centre at Ridgmont.

The former station house, built in 1846 in the Cottage Orné architectural style, underwent a total refurbishment in 2014 managed by the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity (BRCC) with funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. A tea room, gift shop, disabled access and toilets, additional car parking, three small 'start-up' offices and a meeting room have been provided. The former Victorian booking office has been restored as a small heritage centre.[1]

Scenes from the feature film 'One Day' were filmed at the station.

Ridgmont Station has also been used as a watering point for steam-hauled special trains heading north from London.

General information

Ridgmont is in sight of Junction 13 of the M1 motorway and the station is adjacent to a number of distribution centres.

It was at Ridgmont that a new Marston Vale signalling control centre was built as part of the Bedford — Bletchley route modernisation in 2004. This centre replaced all the signal boxes and block posts (some contained within station buildings including Ridgmont) on the route.

In the 1860s the London and North Western Railway planned to extend the railway between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell to meet the Marston Vale line at Ridgmont, but the extension was never built.

View of Ridgmont Railway Station from the A507 bypass

Services

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
London Midland
Mondays-Saturdays only

Community Rail Partnership

Ridgmont station, in common with others on the Marston Vale Line, is covered by the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership,[2] which aims to increase use of the line by involving local people.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ridgmont railway station.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.