Duffield  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The station, looking south in 2009 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Duffield,Borough of Amber Valley England | ||||
| Grid reference | SK345435 | ||||
| Managed by | East Midlands Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 3 (2 National Rail) (1 Ecclesbourne Valley Railway) | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | DFI | ||||
| Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | North Midland Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Midland Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 1841 | Opened | ||||
| 1867 | Moved to junction with Wirksworth branch | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  77,568 | ||||
| 2020/21 |  14,204 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 39,902 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 47,482 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 56,306 | ||||
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Duffield railway station serves the village ofDuffield inDerbyshire,England. The station is located on theMidland Main Line, betweenDerby andLeeds, 133 miles 8 chains (214.2 km) north ofLondon St Pancras. The unstaffed station is served byEast Midlands Railway, which operates local services from Derby toMatlock, via theDerwent Valley Line. It is also a junction with the formerbranch line toWirksworth, which is now operated as theEcclesbourne Valleyheritage railway.
The first station at Duffield was built in 1841, a year after the line opened, by theNorth Midland Railway a few yards further north from its present position.
From 1840, there had been a number of proposals for a line fromManchester down theChurnet Valley to meet either theBirmingham and Derby Junction Railway or theMidland Counties Railway, and then go on toLondon. An amendment was put forward in 1844 bringing the line to the North Midland at Duffield, presumably viaAshbourne and the Ecclesbourne Valley; however, the line never materialised.
TheMidland Railway (MR) was looking for a path into Manchester as an alternative to the formerManchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway fromAmbergate toRowsley which it leased jointly with the LNWR. It built a junction at Duffield and began to construct the line, which opened as far as Wirksworth in 1867.[1] When the MR gained sole control of the Ambergate line in 1871, the extension proved unnecessary; however, the Wirksworth branch remained a busy line, with a regular passenger service and freight in the form of limestone from Wirksworth and milk from the farms along the line.
In 1867, a large new station was built in the vee of the junction, with platforms on each side of the double track. A signal box was provided to the east of the main line, replaced by the Duffield Junction box around 1890 at the south end of platform 1. By this time, the village's population had increased with railway workers and management, as had traffic on the main line. In 1897, a goods line was laid in theup (southbound) direction and a fourth,down goods, laid in 1904.
At this stage, there were two platforms with a footbridge, the second being an island between the two passenger lines and another for the branch. The two subsidiary platforms each had a waiting room, while the main platform building contained the waiting room, ticket and luggage offices. Next to the footbridge was a separateW.H. Smith bookstall. The station master's house was separate, being beside the track to the north, and there was small luggage store just outside the gate. The Wirksworth branch had severed the main road, which had been diverted; a footbridge gave access across the line. To the north of the station, there was a wide level crossing which, besides allowing luggage trolleys to cross, gave access for the farmer who owned the adjacent land. Next to this was a footbridge from the front of the station to the field behind, and between them two signal posts with, until 1910, a station signal box supplementing Duffield Junction. After that, the station changed little over the years until 1969; in 1947, at the time passenger services were withdrawn on the Wirksworth branch, the signal posts were replaced with a fabricated steel gantry and upper-quadrant signals. Some time later, the passenger footbridge was rebuilt in brick using the existing walkway.
In the 1960s, the station became unstaffed and the buildings were removed in 1969, except for the station master's house which became a private residence and the small luggage store which was just outside the gate. These have also been demolished subsequently.
In July 2005, the station was adopted byWyvernRail plc under a scheme promoted by theFriends of the Derwent Valley Line. WyvernRail undertook to provide care and maintenance of Duffield station on behalf ofCentral Trains (who operated the station at that time) and continue to do so for East Midlands Railway.[2]
Ecclesbourne Valley Railway passenger services extended to Duffield in April 2011, allowing heritage trains from Wirksworth to connect here with the Midland Main Line. Through ticketing is available from all main line stations.[3]
National Rail services at Duffield are operated byEast Midlands Railway, usingClass 170 orClass 158diesel multiple units.
The typical off-peak service is one train per hour in each direction betweenMatlock andNottingham, viaDerby. On Sundays, the station is served by one train every two hours in each direction in the morning, increasing to hourly in the afternoon.[4]
The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway runs services toWirksworth, viaShottle andIdridgehay. Timetables vary during the year, with more services at weekends and school holidays; patterns include yellow, purple and green days.[5] Trains only run toRavenstor on special event days.[6]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belper | East Midlands Railway | Derby | ||
| Preceding station |  Heritage railways | Following station | ||
| Shottle towardsWirksworth | Ecclesbourne Valley Railway | Terminus | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
Line open, station closed | Midland Railway | Terminus | ||
