Place Grimston 2 Feb 1880 Station opens Platforms in use 2 | Area Melton Original company Midland Railway | |
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways 4th Feb 1957 Closes to passengers and goods Similar Asfordby railway station, East Langton railway st, Old Dalby railway station, Medbourne railway station, Brooksby railway station | ||
Grimston was a railway station serving Saxelbye village in the English county of Leicestershire. It was opened on the Midland Railway route between London and Nottingham via Corby.The station was formerly named Saxelbye, the name was changed after only 3 months to avoid confusion with Saxby, a few miles east of Melton Mowbray, on the Midland's other line between Leicester and Peterborough. The village of Grimston lies about one mile to the north west of the former Grimston station. The line still exists today as the Old Dalby Test Track.
Contents
History
The station was opened for goods (1st Nov 1879) & passengers (2nd Feb 1880) by the Midland Railway. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.
It was on its cut-off line from Melton Mowbray to Nottingham. The line was built to allow the railway company's expresses between London and the North to avoid reversal at Nottingham. It also improved access to and from the iron-ore fields in Leicestershire and Rutland. Local traffic was minimal and Grimston closed to passengers in 1957.
According to the Official Handbook of Stations the following classes of traffic were handled by this station in 1956: G, P, F, L, H, C and there was a 1-ton 10 cwt crane.
Present day
Following the closure of the line as a through-route in 1968, the track between Melton Mowbray and Edwalton was converted for use as the Old Dalby Test Track, used initially for the Advanced Passenger Train project and, more recently, Class 390 Pendolino units. The original station building was timber and did not survive, nor did the brick-built goods shed but the Up platform is still in existence and the former station master's house is now a private residence.