Shippea Hill railway station

Shippea Hill railway station 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
Shippea Hill railway station in 2012
Location	Burnt Fen, East Cambridgeshire England
Grid reference	TL641841
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SPP
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
1845	Opened as Mildenhall Road
1885	Renamed Burnt Fen
1904	Renamed Shippea Hill
Passengers
2015/16	12
2016/17	156
2017/18	276
2018/19	432
2019/20	164
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Shippea Hill is a request stop 77 miles 17 chains (124.26 km) from London Liverpool Street via Cambridge, in one of the few areas within Burnt Fen which rise just above sea level. The station is on the A1101 road between Littleport and Mildenhall.

It has been noted for its low patronage: for example, only 12 passenger entries/exits were recorded at the station in 2015/16.

History

The station was opened in 1845 as Mildenhall Road. In 1885 its name was changed to Burnt Fen, and in about 1904 it adopted its current name, Shippea Hill.[1]

On 7 April 1906, a passenger train was derailed due to excessive speed. Eight passengers were injured, two seriously.[2]

Ordnance Survey maps from the 1920s show a network of narrow-gauge horse-drawn feeder agricultural tramways running south west from the station yard onto the Hiam Estate. There was also a standard gauge private railway branch running east to a chicory factory, which in turn had a network of narrow gauge agricultural tramways running south east onto the Chivers Estate.

On 3 December 1976, at about 4 pm, a passenger train collided with a lorry on an unmanned level crossing at Shippea Hill. The train driver, Robert (Bob) Hitcham, was killed and eight of his passengers were injured.[3]

The wooden level crossing gates at Shippea Hill used to be operated manually by the signalman in the local signal box. In 2012, the signal box was closed and the crossing was renewed with automatic barriers and warning lights.

Quietest UK railway station

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, a finalist from The Great British Bake Off attracted at least 16 people to the station by handing out free mince pies.,[9] In June 2019, the Odd Socks, a society at the University of Cambridge, hosted a Garden Party at the station. 71 members of the Society and their guests, all students at the university, gathered on platform 2 for dancing and drinks before returning by train to Cambridge.

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 12 trains a day called in each direction and it was used as a railhead for the airbases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath, a lot of Americans boarded or left the train there.

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 December 2019 the station is served by one train per day (in the morning peak) to Norwich, except on Sundays. Additionally, on Saturdays only there is one train to Stansted Airport.

Despite the next station, Lakenheath, being only a few miles away, there are no direct services between the two stations.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Ely		Greater Anglia Breckland Line		Lakenheath

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". Retrieved 13 March 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
5. 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.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". 24 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.

External links

• Train times and station information for Shippea Hill railway station from National Rail