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Special-purpose railway stations in the United Kingdom

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This article lists special-purpose railway stations, i.e. those which meet one or more of these criteria:

  • cannot be accessed by the public from the street;
  • can only be accessed from private land;
  • can only be accessed by appointment;
  • only serve a particular venue, such as a factory, harbour or stadium; or
  • are not listed in the public timetable, or provide service on event-days only.

It also lists closed stations that satisfied one or more of these criteria when open, and stations which at some point in their history satisfied one or more of the criteria.

List

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Station Open? Year of closure Always/still special purpose? Criteria[note 1] Notes Citation
No public access? Private land? Appointment only? One venue only? Omitted from timetable/event day service?
Holton Heath Open — No Yes Yes Yes Yes Possibly, until public opening Initially opened for exclusive use of Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath
Kempton Park Yes No Yes No No No Serves Kempton Park Racecourse. Has had a regular service since 2006. [1]
Lympstone Commando Yes Yes No No Yes No Used for visitors to the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre. The station is owned by Network Rail and has been accessible to the public since the creation of a walking and cycling path between the station and training centre. [2][3]
Singer No No No No Yes ? Built to serve the Singer's sewing machine factory which now no longer exists but keeps its name. Now has a regular service.
Smallbrook Junction Yes Yes No No Yes No Built as a connection to two railways with no actual entrance to the station. This is the only station in the UK that has been built for this purpose.
Aintree Racecourse Closed 1962 Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Built to serve Aintree Racecourse [4]
Ampress Works Halt 1989 Yes ? ? No Yes Yes Served the Wellworthy works near Lymington, Hampshire [5]
Angling Club Cottage Platform 1940's Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? [6]
Ardeer Platform 1966 Yes No ? No Yes ? Built to serve the ICI Nobel Explosives Factory in Stevenston, North Ayrshire. Platforms still exist.
Bogside 1967 No Yes Yes No No ? Built to serve the former Bogside Racecourse in Irvine, and also Bogside Golf Club
Boothferry Park Halt 1986 Yes No No No Yes Yes Served Boothferry Park football stadium, Hull [7]
Dover Western Docks 1994 Yes No ? No Yes No Closed when the channel tunnel opened
Filey Holiday Camp 1977 Yes No Yes No Yes No Closed due to more people using cars
Folkestone Harbour 2001 Yes No ? No Yes No Line officially closed in 2014
IBM 2018 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Opened to serve a large facility owned by IBM that employed 4,000 at the time of opening but today much of the site has been sold off to other companies.
Manchester United Football Ground 2018 Yes No ? No Yes Yes Built outside of the Old Trafford stadium and was only open on match days. Service suspended since 2018
Meadowbank Stadium 1998 Yes No No No Yes Yes Opened to serve the Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh
Newhaven Marine 2006 Yes No ? No Yes No Served the Ferry Terminal but closed due to more people using cars and the closeness of Newhaven Harbour station. Officially closed 2020.
New Holland Pier 1981 Yes No ? No Yes No Was built the serve the ferry service over the Humber to Hull. Closed when the Humber bridge opened and the ferry service ceased. [8]
Ramsline Halt 1997 Yes No No No Yes Yes Served the Baseball Ground, Derby but closed when Derby County F.C. moved to a new stadium
Redcar British Steel 2019 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Built to serve the nearby Teesside Steelworks site. Services suspended in 2019.
Rowntree Halt 1988 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Opened for the workers who worked at the Rowntree's factory in York. Officially closed in 1989.
Ruddington Factory Halt 1948 Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? Built to serve the Ruddington Ordnance & Supply Depot [9]
Tilbury Riverside 1992 Yes ? ? No Yes No [10]
Sinfin North 1993 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Served the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby. Not officially closed until 1998, with a replacement taxi service being provided in the interim.
Stanlow and Thornton 2022 Yes No Yes No Yes No Built to serve Stanlow Oil Refinery. Service has been suspended since February 2022[11]
Wadsley Bridge 1996 No No No No Yes Yes Lost its regular service in 1956 but continued to be served by football specials until 1996 [12][13]
Watford Stadium Halt 1996 Yes No No No Yes Yes Served Vicarage Road, the home stadium of Watford F.C., was only open on match days, saw its last train when a road widening scheme severed the line, and was officially closed in 2003 [14]
Weymouth Quay 1987 Yes No ? No Yes No Visited by one-off charter service in 1999 [15]

Notes

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  1. ^ In the case of a station which was at some point special-purpose, but is not now (or was not at some point in its life), the criteria refer to when the station was special-purpose.

References

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  1. ^ "South West Trains > Improved services at new-look Kempton Park". 23 February 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009.
  2. ^ Colin Maggs (2016). "3: Stations". Maggs's Railway Curiosities. Amberley. p. 95 - Hospital and Other Special Stations. ISBN 9781445652665.
  3. ^ "Lympstone Commando Railway Station - a Freedom of Information request to Ministry of Defence". WhatDoTheyKnow. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Disused Stations: Aintree Racecourse Station".
  5. ^ Croughton, G.; Kidner, R.W.; Young, A. (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations. Trowbridge, Wilts: Oakwood Press. p. 124. ISBN 0-85361-281-1.
  6. ^ "Disused Stations: Angling Club Cottage Halt".
  7. ^ "Hull City | Club | Boothferry Park | A History of Boothferry Park". 13 February 2010. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.
  8. ^ "Disused Stations: New Holland Pier Station".
  9. ^ "Disused Stations: Ruddington Factory Halt".
  10. ^ "Disused Stations: Tilbury Riverside Station".
  11. ^ "National Rail Enquiries - Station facilities for Stanlow & Thornton".
  12. ^ "Disused Stations: Wadsley Bridge Station".
  13. ^ "Wadsley Bridge Railway Station - then & Now". 9 February 2018.
  14. ^ "Watford to Croxley Green - West Watford History Group". Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  15. ^ "'Olympic' train line may be lost". 30 January 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
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