Watlington (Norfolk) railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Watlington
code = WTG


manager = First Capital Connect
locale = Watlington
borough = King's Lynn and West Norfolk
lowusage0405 = 85,231
lowusage0506 = 85,423
lowusage0607 = 91,250
platforms = 2
years = 27 October 1846
events = Opened (Watlington)
years1 = 1 June 1875
events1 = Renamed (Magdalen Road)
years2 = 9 September 1968
events2 = Closed
years3 = 5 May 1975
events3 = Reopened
years4 = 3 October 1989
events4 = Renamed (Watlington) [Butt, R.V.J. (1995). "The Directory of Railway Stations", Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 152 & 243.]

:"For the closed railway station of the same name in Oxfordshire, see Watlington railway station, Oxfordshire"

Watlington railway station serves the village of Watlington in Norfolk, England. Watlington station lies on the Fen Line from Cambridge to King's Lynn, which is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead.

The station is mentioned by author Lisa St Aubin de Teran in her autobiography as being the station closest to her Norfolk home - she reminisced about conversations with the train guard who was checking tickets, where she requested that the train stop at the station (for many years, most trains only called at the station if a passenger requested it, rather than it being a regular timetabled stop).

History

Watlington station, originally part of the East Anglian Railway, became part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862, and was renamed Magdalen Road in 1875 (a name which, perhaps, better reflects its lonely rural location in the middle of the flatlands of the East Anglian Fens). From 1848 onwards, Watlington was a junction, as the line once branched off from there to Wisbech. The branch, along with Magdalen Road station, was closed in 1969 in the "Beeching cuts" (perhaps falsely so-called, for Beeching's report never recommended its closure).

Due to local efforts, however, Magdalen Road station was re-opened in 1975, and in 1989 returned to its original title of Watlington. The signal box at the station, in active use today, still bears a Network SouthEast sign with its post-1875 name. The current southbound platform, behind the signal box, dates from the early 1990s; the original station buildings on the southbound side have since been converted into a private residence. The original wooden waiting room on the northbound platform was replaced around the same time, though the original platform still survives as part of an extended platform.

Current services

The station is served by First Capital Connect as part of their 'Fen Line' service from London King's Cross to King's Lynn. Outside peak hours the services run non-stop between London and Cambridge as part of the half-hourly "Cambridge Cruiser" service. These services now normally use former-British Rail Class 365 electrical multiple units, although for some years less-comfortable Class 317 units were used (these units are still used on services operated by National Express East Anglia into London Liverpool Street).

Before electrification, services were normally operated by InterCity (latterly Network SouthEast) locomotive-hauled trains, normally pulling British Rail Mark 2b coaches (many services featured restaurant cars). The locomotives were usually Class 37 diesel-electrics, sometimes Class 31s or 47s. Off-peak links were often provided by Metro-Cammell diesel multiple units.

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Note

There was a station of the same name in Oxfordshire.

References

*cite book | author=Oppitz, Leslie | title=Lost Railways of East Anglia | publisher=Countryside Books | year=2002 | id=ISBN 1-85306-595-1
*

External links