I went to look for Medbourne station, which closed as long ago as 1916. You may remember that I blogged about a 1922 campaign to reopen it.
The station master's house survives, but you can't get a good photo of it from the public road. You can see a picture of it on the Medbourne village website.
So all I can show you is the pillars at the entrance to the station, which are quite a way from where the platforms would have been. The second pillar is next to the litter bin, if you're struggling to locate it.
And below is a heavily altered (Notswoldised?) terrace of railwaymen's cottages, which stands close to the station entrance.
In 1910 the Great Northern Railway ran a service from Leicester Belgrave Road to Peterborough North (the present-day Peterborough station), which called at Medbourne. It probably took a more direct route than the Leicester to Peterborough trains via Melton Mowbray, Oakham and Stamford do today.
What brings home the emptiness of this part of the world is the list of stations the GNR trains called at between Leicester and Peterborough. After the Leicester suburb of Humberstone, there was not a place of even middling size among them.
The list ran: Humberstone, Thurnby & Scraptoft, Ingarsby, Lowesby, Tilton, East Norton, Hallaton, Medbourne, Rockingham, Seaton, Wakerley & Barrowden, King's Cliffe, Nassington, Wansford, Castor.
Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing us another of your quirky, but ever so interesting railway posts. Just one, very minor point - I think it's Ingarsby, not Ingersby, but maybe that's the Lestershire boy in you.
Cheers,
Ingarsby it is. Thanks! Wikipedia says it's "one of the best preserved deserted medieval villages in England". No wonder the line struggled for passengers.
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