Wansford railway station

Wansford
The new station building at Wansford.
Location
Place	Wansford
Area	Cambridgeshire
Coordinates	52°34′06″N 0°23′22″W / 52.568325°N 0.389540°W / 52.568325; -0.389540Coordinates: 52°34′06″N 0°23′22″W / 52.568325°N 0.389540°W / 52.568325; -0.389540
Grid reference	TL092979
Operations
Original company	Northampton and Peterborough Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2
History
1845	opened
1957	closed
1977	reopened
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
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

[ ] Nene Valley Railway
Ely to Peterborough Line Peterborough East Peterborough North East Coast Main Line Peterborough Nene Valley Longville Junction Orton Mere Ferry Meadows Ham Lane Castor Great Northern to Stamford Old Great North Road Wansford Wansford Tunnel (616 yards) Yarwell Junction Northampton and Peterborough Railway London & North Western to Rugby

Wansford railway station is the headquarters of the Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire, England. The station building was opened in 1995 and contains a ticket office, shop, cafe and toilets. The locomotive sheds are located at this station. Also at the station there is a picnic area and children's playground. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Stamford, which separated to the north just east of the river bridge at Wansford.

Wansford station and the line immediately either side of it, including the level crossing and the river bridge appeared several times in the James Bond film Octopussy.

The station opened with the Northampton and Peterborough Railway from Blisworth to Peterborough in 1845. Being located on the Great North Road, it was for a few years the railhead for Grantham, Lincoln, etc., which at this time were not served by any railway lines. The branch line to Stamford opened in 1867. The route to Rugby became available when the LNWR built a line from Yarwell Junction, west of Wansford tunnel, to their existing 1850 Rugby to Stamford line at Seaton. At the same time, the Great Northern began a service from Peterborough North to Leicester Belgrave Road via Wansford, Seaton and the newly opened Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway in east Leicestershire. The Leicester trains were stopped as a war economy in 1916. The Stamford branch closed in 1929, having never properly recovered from the 1926 general strike. The station closed for regular passenger services on 1 July 1957 but passenger services from Peterborough continued to use the line to Northampton until 1964, and to Rugby until 1966. The Rugby line remained open for freight as far as the sand and gravel quarries at Nassington. When these stopped, the line closed but the track remained in situ. The line became the Nene Valley Railway heritage railway and was reopened on 1 June 1977.