Shippea Hill railway station

Shippea Hill
National Rail
Shippea Hill railway station in November 2012
General information
LocationBurnt Fen, East Cambridgeshire
England
Grid referenceTL641841
ManagerGreater Anglia
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeSPP[1]
ClassificationDfT category F2
Key dates
30 July 1845Opened as Mildenhall Drove
December 1845Renamed Mildenhall Road
1 April 1885Renamed Burnt Fen
1 May 1905Renamed Shippea Hill
Passengers
2020/21Decrease 36
2021/22Increase 102
2022/23Increase 142
2023/24Decrease 70
2024/25Increase 76
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Shippea Hill railway station (originally Mildenhall Road and later Burnt Fen) is on the Breckland Line in the east of England, serving the Burnt Fen area of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east. Shippea Hill is 77 miles 17 chains (77.21 miles, 124.26 km) from London Liverpool Street (measured via Cambridge and Clapton), and is sited between Ely and Lakenheath.[2]

It has been noted for its low patronage. In 2015/16, only twelve passenger entries/exits were recorded at the station. It is only served by one train per day in one direction on weekdays, with one in both directions on Saturdays and none on Sundays.

History

The station was opened on 30 July 1845 as Mildenhall Drove and renamed Mildenhall Road in December of the same year,[3] although Mildenhall itself is about 8 miles away.[4] It was renamed Burnt Fen on 1 April 1885 and Shippea Hill on 1 May 1905.[3] This is despite the fact that the land on which the station sits is below sea level.[5]

On 7 April 1906, a passenger train derailed due to excessive speed. Eight passengers were injured, two seriously.[6]

In 1975, due to local government boundary redrawings, the station became a "disputed zone", where the signal box was in Suffolk, the southern platform was in Cambridgeshire (in which the station is located today), and the northern platform was in Norfolk.[7]

On 3 December 1976, at about 16:00, a passenger train collided with a lorry on an unstaffed level crossing near Shippea Hill. The train driver, Robert Hitcham, was killed, and eight passengers were injured.[8]

Facilities

The station has only basic facilities, including cycle storage, a small car park and shelters.[9] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

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).[10][11][12][13] 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.[14] 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.[15]

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."[11]

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 21 friends plus three unrelated genuine passengers, they doubled the 12-passenger total from 2015/16 in one day.[16][17]

Passenger volume at Shippea Hill[18]
2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Entries and exits 37 26 606 845 868 942 812 376 50 12 22 12 156 276 432 164 36 102 142 70 76

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

A Class 755 at Shippea Hill

In the May 2026 timetable, on weekdays the station is served by one train per day (in the morning peak) to Norwich. 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.[19]

Despite being one stop down the line from Lakenheath, there is no direct train between the two stations.[19]

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Greater Anglia

References

  1. ↑ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  2. ↑ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (2025). Railway Track Diagrams; 2: Eastern (6th ed.). Frome: TRACKmaps. p. 14. ISBN 978 1999627188.
  3. 1 2 Quick 2023, p. 414.
  4. ↑ Wills 2014, p. 210.
  5. ↑ Wills 2014, p. 209.
  6. ↑ Lt. Col. P G von Donop / Board of Trade (7 May 1906). "Great Eastern Railway" (PDF). Railways Archive. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Wills 2014, p. 211.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "Shippea Hill". Greater Anglia. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. 1 2 Usborne, Simon (9 December 2016). "A brief encounter at Britain's least-used railway station". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Revealed: Britain's busiest and quietest stations". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 February 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ↑ Office Of Rail and Road (30 November 2017). "Estimates of Station Usage 2016 - 17" (PDF). Office Of Rail and Road. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  15. ↑ "GBBO mince pie station bid entices 16". BBC News. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  16. ↑ Marshall, Geoff; Pipe, Vicki (7 June 2017). "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.
  17. ↑ Marshall & Pipe 2018, p. 52-53.
  18. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  19. 1 2 eNRT May 2026 Edition, Table 013 (Network Rail)

Bibliography

  • Quick, Michael (2023). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.
  • Marshall, Geoff; Pipe, Vicki (2018). The Railway Adventures: Places, Trains, People and Stations. September Publishing. ISBN 978-1910463871.
  • Wills, Dixe (2014). Tiny Stations (Paperback, 1st reprint ed.). Basingstoke: AA Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7495-7732-2.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shippea Hill railway station.

52°25′48″N 0°24′47″E / 52.430°N 0.413°E / 52.430; 0.413

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.