Womersley railway station

Level crossing, station house, and station building in August 2008

Womersley railway station was a railway station in North Yorkshire, England. It was situated on the Askern Branch Line and was built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway to provide at link to the great Northern Railway at Doncaster. It was opened on 6 June 1848 and closed to passenger traffic on 27 September 1948. The platforms have since been demolished, but the railway line through the site is still open and in regular use. The grand presence and noticeable architecture of the station likely resulted from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways’ belief that it was in keeping with the villages location. The large "Swiss cottage style" station building is prominent.

The estate at the time of construction in the 1840s belonged to Lord Roche and there were many important visitors to the estate who came by train including the Queen Mother.

The site today

The station house still exists, next to the level crossing. Trains mainly operate to the local power stations of Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax (the biggest power station in Europe). There are many trains, nearly always hauled by Class 66 locomotives of DB Cargo UK, Freightliner and GB Railfreight. For many years the only time the line saw passenger trains was when there were engineering diversions on the East Coast Main Line, but since 23 May 2010 there has been a regular train service that runs on this line from Bradford Interchange to London King's Cross, run by open access operator Grand Central.

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Norton		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Askern Branch Line		Knottingley