Lowdham railway station

Coordinates: 53°00′24″N 0°59′53″W / 53.00667°N 0.99806°W / 53.00667; -0.99806
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Lowdham
National Rail
General information
LocationLowdham, Newark and Sherwood
England
Grid referenceSK673459
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeLOW
ClassificationDfT category F2
Passengers
2018/19Increase 72,494
2019/20Decrease 70,442
2020/21Decrease 9,216
2021/22Increase 30,880
2022/23Increase 39,988
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureLowdham Railway Station, Station Road
Designated13 May 1986
Reference no.1370192[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Signal box, 2008

Lowdham railway station is a Grade II listed[1] railway station which serves the village of Lowdham in Nottinghamshire, England.

History[edit]

It is on the Nottingham to Lincoln Line, which was engineered by George Stephenson and opened by the Midland Railway on 3 August 1846.[2] The contractors for the line were Craven and Son of Newark and Nottingham;[2] the buildings were probably designed by Thomas Chambers Hine.[3]

The buildings originally comprised a combined station building and station master's house, a weighbridge hut at the entrance to the goods yard, a goods shed, and stables for the horses that drew the drays to deliver goods. A waiting room, a porter's room and a lamp hut were on the opposite platform from the station building, and a signal box across the road on that side, next to the level crossing. The signal box was opened on 14 June 1896.[4] This Midland Railway Type 2b box was the oldest on the line when abolished in 2016.[5]

In 1953 the station made national headlines when a train stopped blocking the level crossing for 45 minutes as the engine driver, Fred Jones and his fireman David Mews had "a few words". The driver stopped because he thought there was not enough water in his boiler and he blew the fire out. The fireman thought there was enough pressure in the boiler for them to continue. The driver requested water for the engine and a relief fireman. Many of the passengers alighted from the train and shouted angrily whilst the driver and fireman held a discussion.[6] British Rail supplied a relief fireman and a relief driver to resolve the situation.[7]

The station was Grade II listed on 13 May 1986.[1]

The main station building is now in private ownership; it has been renovated[citation needed] and used to exhibit items on the history of the Midland Railway.[8] In 2016, the line was re-signalled by Network Rail, making the signal boxes at Lowdham redundant.[9] The signal box closed on 1 October 2016 when control transferred to the East Midlands Integrated Electronic Control Centre at Derby

In 2017, the Nottingham-bound platform was extended to compensate for the reduction in usable platform caused by the positioning of one of the new signals.[10]

In October 2020, the 1896 signal box at the level crossing was removed overnight to be restored by charity Lowdham Railway Heritage as a museum.[11]

Stationmasters[edit]

The station suffered difficulties with its early station masters. The Stamford Mercury of 10 May 1861 records that Leonard Moore committed suicide by hanging on 8 May 1861, and reported that he was the fifth station master at Lowdham who has either committed suicide or suffered imprisonment for embezzling the money of the Midland Railway Company.[12]

  • Evelyn Walters 1846[13]-1850 (charged with embezzling money)[14]
  • George Reeves ca.1851–1857 (sentenced to six months’ hard labour for embezzling money)[15]
  • Leonard Moore ca. 1859–1861 (committed suicide)
  • J. Ashton ca. 1861
  • G. Hodgkinson ca. 1862
  • R. Peddle until 1863 (afterwards station mastter at Kibworth)
  • Caleb Porter from 1863 (formerly station master at Kibworth)[16]
  • Henry Hall. ca. 1868–1871
  • Thomas Wormall until 1873[17]
  • W.G. Watkins 1874-1879[18]
  • Samuel Savage 1879-1885 (formerly station master at Castle Donington)
  • G. Croft 1885-1888
  • George Butler 1888-1907 (afterwards station master at Blesby)[19]
  • George Ernest Aiers 1907–1911 (formerly station master at Bleasby)[19]
  • S. Eaton from 1911 (formerly station master at Radford)
  • J. Fawkes ca. 1914
  • F. Hickman until 1937[20] (formerly station master at Rotten Park Road, Tile Hill)
  • J.F. Georgeson from 1937[21] (formerly station master at Goostrey, also station master at Thurgarton)
  • H. Simpson ca. 1946 ca. 1950
  • George Tubbs ca. 1953

Services[edit]

All services at Lowdham are operated by East Midlands Railway.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[22]

The station is also served by a small number of trains between Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln.

There is also a daily return service between Lincoln and London St Pancras International which is operated by a Class 222 Meridian. This service does not run on Sundays.

On Sundays, there is a roughly hourly service between Nottingham and Lincoln from mid-morning onwards.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
East Midlands Railway
East Midlands Railway
Limited Service

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Historic England, "Lowdham Railway Station (1370192)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 November 2020
  2. ^ a b "Opening of the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway". Lincolnshire Chronicle. England. 7 August 1846. Retrieved 2 March 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth; Hartwell, Clare (2020). The Buildings of England. Nottinghamshire. Yale University Press. p. 303. ISBN 9780300247831.
  4. ^ "Boxes beginning L". Railway Codes. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Lowdham Signal Box" (PDF). Inter City Railway Society. 44 (518): 35. February 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Passengers Angry As Discussion Holds Up A Train". Weekly Dispatch (London). England. 14 June 1953. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Fantastic! What a way to run a railway". Daily Mirror. England. 15 June 1953. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ Jackson, Allen (2018). Midland Railway Stations. Stroud: Amberley. p. 123. ISBN 9781445680439.
  9. ^ "Lowdham Station signal box to close next year". Gedling Eye. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Network Rail to extend platforms at two stations in Nottinghamshire". Network Rail. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Salvaged Victorian signal box to become museum", BBC News, 31 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Leonard Moore". Stamford Mercury. England. 10 May 1861. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Midland Railway". Nottinghamshire Guardian. England. 31 July 1846. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "Embezzlement by a Railway Station-Master". Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. England. 10 May 1850. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "At Notts Sessions on Tuesday". Stamford Mercury. England. 8 January 1858. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "Kibworth". Leicester Guardian. England. 21 November 1863. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ "Midland Railway". 1871–1879: 392. Retrieved 31 January 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ "Midland Railway". 1871–1879: 854. Retrieved 31 January 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ a b "Items of Local Interest". Nottingham Evening Post. England. 21 May 1907. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ^ "Tutbury". Staffordshire Advertiser. England. 28 June 1947. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ^ "New LMS Stationmasters". Nottingham Evening Post. England. 8 September 1937. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ Table 27 National Rail timetable, May 2020

Gallery[edit]

  • Victorian wall post box
    Victorian wall post box
  • 1899 No Trespassing sign
    1899 No Trespassing sign
  • Midland Railway noticeboard
    Midland Railway noticeboard

External links[edit]

53°00′24″N 0°59′53″W / 53.00667°N 0.99806°W / 53.00667; -0.99806

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