Whetstone railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Whetstone
gridref = SP55589767


caption =
manager = Great Central Railway
owner = London and North Eastern Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways
locale = Whetstone
borough = Blaby
platforms = 2
years = 15 March 1899
events = Opened
years1 = 4 March 1963
events1 = Closed

Whetstone was a station on the Great Central Railway (GCR), the last main line to be constructed from the north of England to London, which opened in 1899 to serve the Leicestershire village of Whetstone.

Whetstone station was built by the Great Central as part of its "London Extension", and opened to passengers on March 15th 1899. It was a conventional London extension station, common in towns on villages on the GCR, and was equipped with a single island platform. Access was had from beneath the railway bridge, which once spanned Station Street near the centre of the village. The platform was on the south side of the bridge on an embankment that was particularly wide to accommodate the goods yard. All the station's buildings were situated on the single platform and comprised a porter's room, a booking office, general and ladies waiting rooms, plus a gentlemen's toilet block. [http://www.greatcentraltoday.com/whetstoneashbyframe.htm Whetstone Station] ]

The station was one of the earlier closures on the line following the publication of the Beeching Report, closing to passengers in 1963; it, like nearby Ashby Magna, served a relatively sparsely populated area and had always struggled to attract sufficient revenue. [Cite book | author=Healy, J.M.C. | title=Great Central Memories | date=1987 | publisher=Baton Transport | location=London | isbn=0-85936-193-4 | pages=p. 92]

Since closure, the railway nembankment has been removed, along with all station buildings and platforms; only the stationmaster's house remains today. A new housing development has been constructed on the old trackbed formation..

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