Whitwick railway station

Whitwick railway station was built by the Charnwood Forest Company, serving the Charnwood Forest Railway, and was officially opened with the rest of the completed line on the 16th of April, 1883. Following the closure of passenger traffic (aside from a few specials and other organised events) in 1931, the station building became a blacksmiths. Following total line closure in 1963, the history of the building is more difficult to chart. However, it is apparent that the waiting rooms and other facilities on platform level were demolished. In the mid-1970s the Whitwick Historical Group was created, with the old station building becoming their home.

The building is situated close to the village's Market Place, which is essentially the centre of the village, on North Street.

The trackbed between Coalville (starting at Morrisons) and Whitwick (terminating just past Whitwick Station) has been turned into a public right of way. This passes the station building and the remains of the platform, which sadly, although intact, is overgrown and unkempt. The original staircase which gave passengers access from the road above to the platform was kept in use until the 1990s, however following persistant vandalism and worries over the structure's safety, the decision was taken to demolish it. All that remains now is the landing at the road entrance.

Whitwick Historical Group

The group now using the station building have repainted it into it's former Midland Red and Cream colours. The interior however is much changed, with the downstairs rooms now being a kitchenette and a dedicated computer room. The main function of this room is to help people trace their family trees with the numerous census materials available. Upstairs, the room contains microfilm and microfiche readers. Unfortunately, due to the group being made up of mainly ex-local miners, the group places little emphasis on the Charnwood Forest Line, other than a few photographs.

References

The Charnwood Forest Railway [http://www.geocities.com/oliveshark53/railway.htm]

ee also

Charnwood Forest Railway

Whitwick