Shippea Hill railway station

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Shippea Hill has been recorded as one of the least-used railway stations in Britain. According to Office of Rail and Road estimates, it was the least-used railway station in 2014/15 (with 22 passengers) and 2015/16 (12 passengers). [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2016/17 there was an increase to 156 passengers. This trend has continued in subsequent years, to a recent record of 432 passengers in 2018/19. [8] Due to its unusual status, it sometimes attracts attempts to boost its numbers. In December 2016, Ian Cumming, a finalist from The Great British Bake Off attracted at least 16 people to the station by handing out free mince pies. [9]

Simon Usborne of The Guardian wrote, "It's hard to imagine a more desolate place to get off a train. Shipping containers for sale stand in a muddy yard behind the far platform, opposite the pitched-roof signal box, now shuttered. Otherwise the view is of field after field, some showing maize stumps, others now peat-black and ploughed." [5]

Shippea Hill station was not always so quiet. The 1966/1967 timetable shows that about twelve trains a day called in each direction, and it was used as a railhead for the airbases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath.

Geoff Marshall and Vicki Pipe featured the station on their YouTube channel All The Stations , which catalogued their attempt to visit all currently operating railway stations in Great Britain. In Episode 17, on 3 June 2017, they started their day at Shippea Hill and, with a group of 19 friends plus three unrelated genuine passengers, they almost doubled the 12-passenger total from 2015/16 in one day. [10]

Services

Shippea Hill is a request stop, so passengers must signal to the conductor or driver if they wish to alight or board.

As of February 2023, on weekdays the station is served by one train per day (in the morning peak) to Norwich departing at 07:26. [11]

On Saturdays there a service to Norwich departing at 07:47, and one train to Stansted Airport departing at 16:15.

There is no Sunday service.

Despite being one stop down the line from Lakenheath, there is no direct connection between the two stations.

Shippea Hill
National Rail logo.svg
Shippea Hill station, old signal box and crossing (November 2012).jpg
Shippea Hill railway station in November 2012
General information
Location Burnt Fen, East Cambridgeshire
England
Grid reference TL641841
Managed by Greater Anglia
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeSPP
Classification DfT category F2
Key dates
30 July 1845Opened as Mildenhall Road
1885Renamed Burnt Fen
1904Renamed Shippea Hill
Passengers
2018/19Increase2.svg 432
Preceding station  National Rail logo.svg National Rail  Following station
Ely
Greater Anglia

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References

  1. ↑ "City of Ely: Introduction - British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  2. ↑ Lt. Col. P G von Donop / Board of Trade (7 May 1906). "Great Eastern Railway" (PDF). Railways Archive. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Report on the Accident that occurred on 3rd December 1976 at Chivers Occupation Level Crossing (No. 1) between Lakenheath and Shippea Hill in the Eastern Region British Railways". The Railways Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Scott, Patrick (6 December 2016). "Britain's most and least used train stations revealed, with one getting just 12 passengers a year". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2018– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  5. 1 2 Usborne, Simon (9 December 2016). "A brief encounter at Britain's least-used railway station". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Revealed: Britain's busiest and quietest stations". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 February 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ Office Of Rail and Road. "Estimates of Station Usage 2016 - 17" (PDF). Office Of Rail and Road. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "GBBO mince pie station bid entices 16". BBC News. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Marshall, Geoff; Pipe, Vicki. "There's No One Here - Episode 17, Day 28 - Shippea Hill to Diss". YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "Train timetable Valid from 11 December 2022 Cambridge to Ely, Peterborough and Norwich" (PDF). Greater Anglia. 11 December 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.

52°25′48″N0°24′47″E / 52.430°N 0.413°E / 52.430; 0.413

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