- Normanton railway station
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Normanton 
Platform 1 Location Place Normanton Local authority City of Wakefield Coordinates 53°42′02″N 1°25′25″W / 53.700490°N 1.423520°WCoordinates: 53°42′02″N 1°25′25″W / 53.700490°N 1.423520°W Grid reference SE381228 Operations Station code NOR Managed by Northern Rail Number of platforms 2 Live arrivals/departures and station information
from National Rail EnquiriesAnnual rail passenger usage 2004/05 * 0.113 million 2005/06 * 
0.129 million2006/07 * 0.140 million2007/08 * 0.145 million2008/09 * 0.191 millionPassenger Transport Executive PTE West Yorkshire (Metro) Zone 3 History Opened 1840 National Rail - UK railway stations A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Normanton from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year. Normanton railway station serves the town of Normanton in West Yorkshire, England. It lies 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Leeds railway station on the Hallam Line, which is operated by Northern Rail.
'Jubilee' Class 4-6-0 'Leander' at Normanton in 1961
Contents
History
The original station was opened by the North Midland Railway in 1840 and provided a junction with the York and North Midland Railway and the Manchester and Leeds Railway.
It became the focus of several railway lines in the mid-19th century. Construction began in 1837 under the supervision of George Stephenson for the North Midland. This was soon followed by an addition from the York and Midland Railway and then by the Manchester and Leeds line which all joined at Normanton thereby giving the town access to much of the country. The Leeds and Manchester lines crossed a 51 miles (82 km) stretch across The Pennines and at the time boasted the world's longest railway station platform at Normanton – a quarter of a mile long.
In Victorian times Normanton station was one of the most important stations in northern England and can boast that Queen Victoria stopped over in The Station Hotel. The town also served as an important part of the transport infrastructure for national and local industries including coal and bricks, although most of this was lost during the 1950s and 1960s with the last remaining operational brickworks eventually closing in the mid-nineties. There were three brickworks in town and were all built within the small area known as Newland, taking advantage of the abundance of clay from the area. A fourth works was founded in the 1890s by a man named Thomas Kirk from Nottingham who had heard rumours that Normanton was rapidly turning into an important junction on the railways. Both Kirk and his sons used their life savings and formed the Normanton Brick Company at nearby Altofts which is still in operation today.
The station lost many of its services in the aftermath of the Beeching Report, with both express and local trains on the NMR main line ceasing to call in 1968[1] and trains to York ending in 1970, leaving only Hallam Line trains to serve the station. The NMR was closed completely in 1988 south of the former Goose Hill Junction (where it diverged from the M&L line to Wakefield) although part of the route further south remains open to serve a glassworks at Monk Bretton, near Barnsley.
Pedestrian crossing at the end of platform 2Services
On Mondays to Saturdays the station enjoys an hourly service to Leeds and to Sheffield via Wakefield Kirkgate, with extra trains during peak times. On Sundays there is a two-hourly service each way.
Notes
- ^ Body, p. 138
References
- Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1
External links
- Train times and station information for Normanton railway station from National Rail
Preceding station 
National RailFollowing station Northern Rail Historical railways Line closed, station closedMidland Railway Altofts and WhitwoodLine open, station closedRailway stations in West Yorkshire MetroTrain lines ■ Airedale · ■ Caldervale · ■ Dearne Valley · ■ Hallam · ■ Harrogate · ■ Huddersfield · ■ Leeds-Bradford · ■ Penistone · ■ Pontefract · ■ Wakefield · ■ Wharfedale · ■ York & Selby
City of Bradford Calderdale Kirklees Batley · Berry Brow · Brockholes · Deighton · Denby Dale · Dewsbury · Honley · Huddersfield · Lockwood · Marsden · Mirfield · Ravensthorpe · Shepley · Slaithwaite · StocksmoorCity of Leeds Bramley · Burley Park · Cottingley · Cross Gates · East Garforth · Garforth · Guiseley · Headingley · Horsforth · Leeds · Micklefield · Morley · New Pudsey · WoodlesfordCity of Wakefield Castleford · Featherstone · Fitzwilliam · Glasshoughton · Knottingley · Moorthorpe · Normanton · Outwood · Pontefract Baghill · Pontefract Monkhill · Pontefract Tanshelf · Sandal and Agbrigg · South Elmsall · Streethouse · Wakefield Kirkgate · Wakefield WestgateOutside West Yorkshire,
but within the
West Yorkshire Metro areaCategories:- Railway stations in Wakefield
- Former Midland Railway stations
- Railway stations opened in 1840
- Railway stations served by Northern Rail
- DfT Category F1 stations
- Yorkshire and the Humber railway station stubs
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