Oakham railway station

Oakham railway station serves the town of Oakham in Rutland, England. The station is situated almost halfway between Leicester – 27 miles (43 km) to the west – and Peterborough – 25 miles (40 km) eastward on the (as built) Syston and Peterborough Railway, the line is now part of the much bigger Birmingham to Peterborough Line.

Oakham
Location
PlaceOakham
Local authorityCounty of Rutland
Grid referenceSK856090
Operations
Station codeOKM
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryE
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.208 million
2015/16 0.213 million
2016/17 0.221 million
2017/18 0.227 million
2018/19 0.239 million
History
Original companyMidland Counties Railway
Pre-groupingMidland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
1 May 1848 (1848-05-01)Station opened
Listed status
Listed featureOakham Railway station
Listing gradeGrade II listed
Entry number1252768[1]
Added to list14 February 1990
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Oakham from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Oakham is the only surviving passenger railway station in Rutland. The line is served by Cross Country trains between Birmingham New Street and Stansted Airport or Cambridge. Until recently, the line from Oakham to Kettering via Corby (which branches off just east of Oakham) was rarely used by passenger trains, being almost exclusively a freight line, but now infrequent East Midlands Trains services to London St Pancras, as well as occasional diversionary trains which would have used the Midland Main Line serve the station.

History

The station was opened by the Midland Railway on 1 May 1848. The building was designed by the company architect, Edward Wood of London, and is Grade II listed.[1]

Station Masters
  • Frederick Neal ???? - 1850 (afterwards station master at Tamworth)
  • S. Wollerton ca. 1850s
  • Alfred Fewkes 1858–1865 (afterwards station master at Loughborough)
  • Joseph Kilby 1865–1876[2]
  • A. Chadwick ???? - 1886–1894[3]
  • Robert Herbert 1894–1905 (formerly station master at Dursley)
  • Charles Ravenhall 1905–1914 (formerly station master of Kegworth)
  • W.J. Wearn 1914–1924[4] (afterwards station master at Ilkley)
  • Ernest Shadwell 1924–1927[5] (afterwards station master at Matlock)
  • E.W. Conisbee 1928–1936[6] (formerly station master at Long Itchington)
  • Joseph Henry Marshall 1936–1940
  • Noel Manton 1940–1946[7] (formerly station master at Wilnecote)
  • Mr. Webber 1946 - ????
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Buildings
The signal box

The station building, the nearby level crossing signal box and footbridge are each listed buildings. The signal box was the prototype for the Airfix kit signal box.[8]

Since 2007 some of the station buildings have been used as the headquarters of the charitable organisation Change Agents UK.

Services

From Oakham there is an hourly service in both directions operated by CrossCountry, with some additional peak-hour trains. Services run westbound to Birmingham New Street via Melton Mowbray, Leicester, Narborough, Hinckley, Nuneaton and Coleshill Parkway whilst services eastbound run to Stansted Airport or Cambridge via Stamford, Peterborough, March, Ely and Audley End.[9]

Despite managing the station, East Midlands Railway (EMR) only operates a limited number of services to/from it. A few trains operate at either end of the day, mainly for train crew route knowledge retention purposes. An early morning service runs from Nottingham to Norwich and an evening service operates from Spalding via Peterborough to Nottingham.

The station retains a ticket office which is staffed seven days a week, a car park and help points for times where there are no staff present.

A single daily return service to London St Pancras commenced on 27 April 2009 running via Corby[10] and is notable for being the first regular passenger service to cross the spectacular and historic Welland Viaduct since 1966. The company introduced a further return service from Derby via East Midlands Parkway (for East Midlands Airport) from May 2010.[11] Further services may be introduced in the future.[12] The initial London service had been due to start on 14 December 2008 but because of a delay in reaching agreement with the Department for Transport and the rolling stock company (ROSCO) for the four additional trains needed for the service EMT started the service around four months later.

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
CrossCountry
Birmingham-Stansted Airport
East Midlands Railway
Nottingham-Norwich (via Loughborough)
Limited Service
East Midlands Railway
Derby-London (via Corby)
Limited Service

Former services
The location of Oakham Station (shown on the pre-1966 network), which still serves the county town of Oakham.

Prior to the Beeching Axe trains used to stop at a number of smaller village destinations in Rutland. These were closed between 1961 and 1966.

Summary of former services
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Ashwell   Midland Railway
Leicester to Peterborough
Nottingham to Kettering		   Manton
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References
  1. Historic England, "Oakham Railway Station (1252768)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 24 September 2017
  2. "Deaths". Grantham Journal. England. 1876. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Appointment of Station-Master". Grantham Journal. England. 28 July 1894. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "48 years' railway service". Northampton Mercury. England. 5 November 1937. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Oakham Stationmaster's New Appointment". Grantham Journal. England. 3 December 1927. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "Oakham Stationmaster Retiring". Grantham Journal. England. 7 March 1936. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Oakham Stationmaster". Grantham Journal. England. 7 June 1946. Retrieved 23 September 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Airfix Trackside Series". Airfix Railway Kits. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  9. Table 47 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  10. "Passengers from Melton Mowbray set to benefit from direct link to London". eastmidlandstrains.co.uk. 7 April 2009.
  11. Table 53 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  12. "Rail service could run north of town". Northants Evening Telegraph. 21 February 2008. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2008.

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