Attenborough railway station (originally Attenborough Gate and briefly known as Chilwell) serves the village of Attenborough in Nottinghamshire, England. It is sited on a spur of the Midland Main Line between East Midlands Parkway and Nottingham. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway.

History

The station was built as a halt in 1856, known as Attenborough Gate, on the Midland Counties Railway line from Nottingham to Derby, which had opened in 1839. It was sited next to a level crossing and tickets were bought from the crossing keeper. The station was built on its present site by the Midland Railway and opened on 1 September 1864; the "Gate" suffix was dropped and the name became Attenborough. Becoming part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, the station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. During World War I, the station had its platforms extended as it was used as an interchange for soldiers and workers heading for National Shell Filling Factory No. 6 at Chilwell. In April 1937, the station was renamed Chilwell; however, this did not go down well with Attenborough locals who raised a petition, which 235 local people signed. This resulted in a decision by the LMS to revert the name to Attenborough. The signal box survived until at least 1982 but has since been demolished. When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail. It is an unstaffed station, having lost its station buildings and staff in the early 1990s. Following a rebuild of the platforms in 2005, the station has no architectural remains from any earlier station except for parts of the footbridge. The footbridge was replaced in 2007, receiving a new steel deck and stairways. The blue brick towers, which support the bridge, were retained.

Stationmasters

Services

East Midlands Railway operate the following services that stop here: Interchange with EMR's inter-city services can be made at Derby and Nottingham; trains between Nottingham and London St Pancras pass through Attenborough but do not stop. CrossCountry operate a small number of stopping services, in the early morning and late evening, on the route between Nottingham, Birmingham New Street and Cardiff Central.