When I got off the bus at the Talbot Inn the queue for the festival bar in its garden was a long one, so I slipped away to find Gretton railway station.
Gretton is a large village with three shops, a post office stores and even a little coffee shop. For the traditionalists, there are stocks and a whipping post on the village green.
The station used to stand on a viaduct at the edge of the village. I don't know when it closed, but it is on the line north of Corby which is still open to freight and has always seen plenty of diverted passenger trains. There are even some passenger trains from St Pancras to Oakham and Melton Mowbray via Corby that pass through now.
The stone staircases to the station on either side of the viaduct are still there complete with their wooden handrails, and there is a tunnel just below track level that meant people could change platform without having to go down to street level. The station building, now a private house, is still there too.
And so back to the Talbot...
British Railways withdrew passenger services in 1966.
ReplyDeleteAs of April 2014 two passenger trains a day, in either direction pass through. Station is not far south of the impressive Harringworth viaduct. 3 disused stations between Corby and Oakham - Gretton, Harringworth and Manton Junction.
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