Wennington railway station

Wennington
Location
Place	Wennington
Local authority	Lancaster
Coordinates	54°07′26″N 2°35′13″W / 54.124°N 2.587°WCoordinates: 54°07′26″N 2°35′13″W / 54.124°N 2.587°W
Grid reference	SD616699
Operations
Station code	WNN
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	3,696
2011/12	3,338
2012/13	2,948
2013/14	3,378
2014/15	3,492
History
Original company	"Little" North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
17 November 1849	Opened[1]
1 May 1850	Relocated 1250 m east[1]
1865	Rebuilt as a junction station
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Wennington from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Wennington railway station serves the village of Wennington in Lancashire, England. It is situated on the Leeds to Morecambe Line 15 ³⁄₄ miles (25 km) northeast of Lancaster and operated by Northern, who provide all passenger train services.

History

Preserved Black Five 4-6-0 locomotive 5407 passes Wennington Junction signal box in 1982.

Originally opened by the "Little" North Western Railway in 1849 on their line between Skipton and Morecambe, the station was rebuilt & expanded in 1865^[2] prior to the opening of the Furness and Midland Joint Railway from Carnforth in 1867. Thereafter it became a busy junction, with many passenger trains calling to detach through carriages for Carnforth from the main Morecambe portion if heading west or attaching them if heading east. A number of local services (mainly from the Carnforth line) also originated or terminated there.

Much of this activity ended with the withdrawal of local stopping trains on the Carnforth line in 1960 (though it remained in use for through services) and the closure of the Lancaster line to passengers in January 1966.^[3] The latter was then closed to all traffic the following year and subsequently lifted, although the abandoned trackbed can still be seen. The original station buildings have also been demolished and replaced by shelters, although the signal box remained in use as the last remaining block post on the line until 1988 - it was then closed & permanently "switched out" but wasn't formally abolished and removed until 2006.

The junction was the site of a derailment on 11 August 1880 in which eight people were killed.^[4]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has no ticket-buying facilities. Passengers therefore must purchase these on the train or in advance of their journey. Train running information is provided by telephone and information posters. Step-free access is only available for the eastbound platform, as the westbound one can only be reached by footbridge.^[5]

Services

From Monday to Saturday, there are five daily services to Lancaster (journey time 25mins) and to Skipton & Leeds (1hr20). All but the first of the daily westbound departures continue onwards to Morecambe.^[6]

On Sundays there are four services in each direction all year round since the May 2011 timetable change - prior to this the first two departures each way ran only during the summer months.

References

1. 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. 244. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
2. Binns, p.27
3. Binns, p.42
4. L.T.C. Rolt (1955), Red for Danger, pages 164-5
5. Wennington Station Details Northern Station Information Pages; Retrieved 25 November 2016
6. GB National Rail Timetable, May - December 2016; Table 42

Bibliography

• Binns, D. (1982), The Little North Western Railway, Wyvern Publications, Skipton, ISBN 0-907941-01-X.

External links

• Train times and station information for Wennington railway station from National Rail
• RAILSCOT - Photographs of Wennington