Peartree railway station


Peartree railway station is a railway station serving the areas of Pear Tree, Normanton and Osmaston in the city of Derby, England. It is one of three stations remaining open in the city, and is situated about one mile south of Derby station on the main line to Birmingham. For a short period Derby - Birmingham local services called at Peartree, but it is now served by two trains each way on Mondays to Saturdays on the Crewe to Derby Line, a community rail line also known as the North Staffordshire line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway.

History

Originally called Pear Tree and Normanton, it was one of the original stations of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, opening on 12 August 1839. In 1868, a branch line to Melbourne was opened, diverging from the main line at Melbourne Junction immediately south of the station. This branch had been wholly closed to passenger traffic by 1930, and the diminished importance of Pear Tree and Normanton station as a result contributed to its closure on 4 March 1968.
On 4 October 1976, the branch line was partially reopened as far as Sinfin in order to transport workers to and from the Rolls-Royce plant there. As a result, the newly renamed Peartree station was once again in use. Whereas Sinfin North was within Rolls-Royce property and hence accessible only to employees, Peartree and Sinfin Central had public access. Although the Sinfin branch was closed to passengers in 1998, Peartee has remained open as a result of its location on the main line. As a small suburban halt, main line services rarely stop here and the station is little used by passengers.

Facilities

Access to the platforms is from Osmaston Park Road, which crosses the line immediately to the south of the station via locked gates which are opened for passengers who use the provided intercom. There are no station buildings or shelter, and the entrances were badly overgrown. In January 2007, the station was without signage denoting the location and the platforms were in an exceedingly poor state of repair, but by April 2009 it had been refurbished with new lighting and new signs installed. As the station is unstaffed and with no ticket vending machines, passengers must purchase the ticket on board; the full range of tickets for travel are purchased from the guard on the train at no extra cost.

Services

Peartree is currently served by three trains per weekday towards Crewe and two trains towards Derby as well as two trains per day in each direction on Saturdays. There is no Sunday service. Trains on the Cross Country Route from Birmingham to Derby do not stop at Peartree though some stop at Willington.