Nottingham railway station Totally Explained

Everything about Nottingham Railway Station totally explained

Nottingham station is the principal railway station in the city of Nottingham, England, and the Greater Nottingham area. It is served by East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry and prior to 11 November 2007 Midland Mainline and Central Trains.
Through-fares were made available from Nottingham as well as 67 other UK towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in France and Belgium in late 2007.

History

The first Nottingham station (1839-1848) opened in May 1839 when the Midland Counties Railway opened the line from Nottingham to Derby. This terminus station was situated on the west side of Carrington Street on the site now occupied by Nottingham Magistrates' Courts. The original station gate posts still exist and form the pedestrian entrance to the Magistrates' Courts area.
   In 1844 the Midland Counties Railway merged with two others into the Midland Railway and by 1848 it had outgrown this station and new lines to Lincoln had been opened. A new through station (1848-1903) was opened on Station Road on 22 May and was designed by the architect J E Hall of Nottingham.
   In the 1880s Nottingham station employed 170 men.
   Although attractive when it first opened, by the early 1900s the station was cramped, with only 3 platforms. A locomotive derailment knocked down a cast iron pillar which brought down part of the train shed. This and the new Victoria station putting the Midland Railway to shame finally resulted in a scheme to re-build and expand.

Current building

When the Great Central Railway opened its Victoria Station in 1900, the Midland Railway appointed Albert Edward Lambert, a local Nottingham architect, to rebuild the Midland station. Lambert had been the architect for the Nottingham Victoria railway station and consequently the two buildings shared many similarities in their design. The station was re-built largely on the same site as the Station Street station, but the entrance was relocated onto Carrington Street.
   The first contract for the station buildings was awarded to Edward Wood and Sons of Derby on 23 January 1903, who were also awarded the contract for the buildings on platforms 1 and 2 on 16 September 1903. The contract for the buildings on platforms 4 and 5 was awarded to Kirk, Knight & Co of Sleaford on 18 June 1903, who were also responsible for building the parcels office (Forward House) on Station Street, which opened in November 1903. The structural steelwork and cast-ironwork was done by Handyside & Co. and the Phoenix Foundry, both of Derby.
   The station was built in an Edwardian Baroque Revival style at a cost of £1 million and was described by the Evening News on the eve of its opening (16 January 1904) as a magnificent new block of buildings. The station was built using a mix of red brick, terracotta (which was used as a substitute for building stone) and faience (a glazed terracotta) with slate and glazed pitch roofs over the principal buildings. The carriage entrances have Art Nouveau wrought-iron gates
   The station’s forebuildings were opened to passengers without any formal ceremony on 17 January 1904, although next day the Evening News reported that the platforms were still in a state of chaos and these were not expected to be ready for another 9 months. However it did consider that ‘the result promises to be the provision for Nottingham of one of the most commodious and most convenient passenger stations in the country’.
   The day began with the closure of the booking offices in the old station after the last tickets were issued for the 5:25 London train and the new booking offices were opened in time to issue tickets for the 6:25 Erewash Valley train. No attempt was made to exclude the public from the building and many took the opportunity to view the new station buildings. The Evening News commented on the public’s admiration of the style and elegance of the station approaches and booking hall and went on to describe the day’s events. In the morning, local juveniles swarmed into the station and spent their time playing boisterous games and dodging the duty policeman. Then later in the day, when the juveniles had finally been excluded, many top-hatted gents and their ladies came to promenade, no doubt adding some decorum to the proceedings, and to look at the architecturally pleasing buildings and general satisfaction was expressed. Finally as evening approached the gates were closed and none but passengers were allowed inside.
   The Midland Railway always suffered the indignity that its rival the Great Central Railway crossed the top of Nottingham Midland station on a 170ft long bridge.

Nottingham station today

There are plans to redevelop the station which include more shops and Nottingham Express Transit trams running over the top of the station. (External Link

)
   The station has 6 platforms. Platforms 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are halved into A and B to accommodate two trains on each platform.
   Platform 1, is used mainly for trains to Mansfield Woodhouse and Worksop on the Robin Hood Line and also for trains to Norwich via, Grantham, Peterborough, Ely, and Thetford Platform 2 is a bay platform at the eastern end of the station which accommodates terminating trains from Newark, Grantham or Skegness via Boston. Platforms 3 & 4 are mainly used for the East Midlands Trains trains to London St. Pancras via Leicester and/or Loughborough Platform 5 is commonly used for trains to Liverpool, calling at, Langley Mill, Alfreton, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Stockport, Manchester, Warrington and Widnes Platform 6 is commonly used for trains to Leicester and Lincoln.
   15,000 people pass through the station each day. Station Street tram stop is connected to the station concourse via a pedestrian bridge.
   The station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. It is in the same area as Beeston, Bulwell, Netherfield and Carlton stations.

Trivia

Punk band The Clash played a gig at Nottingham station as part of their 'Back to Basics' busking tour in the mid-eighties. The gig took place at midnight.

Services

Further Information

Get more info on 'Nottingham Railway Station'.

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