Special-purpose railway stations in the United Kingdom

This article lists special-purpose railway stations, i.e. those which meet one or more of these criteria:

cannot be accessed by the public from the street;
can only be accessed from private land;
can only be accessed by appointment;
only serve a particular venue, such as a factory, harbour or stadium; or
are not listed in the public timetable, or provide service on event-days only.

It also lists closed stations that satisfied one or more of these criteria when open, and stations which at some point in their history satisfied one or more of the criteria.

List

Station	Open?	Year of closure	Always/still special purpose?	Criteria[note 1]					Notes	Citation
Station	Open?	Year of closure	Always/still special purpose?	No public access?	Private land?	Appointment only?	One venue only?	Omitted from timetable/event day service?	Notes	Citation
Holton Heath	Open	—	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Possibly, until public opening	Initially opened for exclusive use of Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath
Kempton Park			Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Serves Kempton Park Racecourse. Has had a regular service since 2006.	[1]
Lympstone Commando			Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Used for visitors to the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre. The station is owned by Network Rail and has been accessible to the public since the creation of a walking and cycling path between the station and training centre.	[2][3]
Singer			No	No	No	No	Yes	?	Built to serve the Singer's sewing machine factory which now no longer exists but keeps its name. Now has a regular service.
Smallbrook Junction			Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Built as a connection to two railways with no actual entrance to the station. This is the only station in the UK that has been built for this purpose.
Aintree Racecourse	Closed	1962	Yes	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	Built to serve Aintree Racecourse	[4]
Ampress Works Halt		1989	Yes	?	?	No	Yes	Yes	Served the Wellworthy works near Lymington, Hampshire	[5]
Angling Club Cottage Platform		1940's	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?		[6]
Ardeer Platform		1966	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	?	Built to serve the ICI Nobel Explosives Factory in Stevenston, North Ayrshire. Platforms still exist.
Bogside		1967	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	Built to serve the former Bogside Racecourse in Irvine, and also Bogside Golf Club
Boothferry Park Halt		1986	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Served Boothferry Park football stadium, Hull	[7]
Dover Western Docks		1994	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	No	Closed when the channel tunnel opened
Filey Holiday Camp		1977	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Closed due to more people using cars
Folkestone Harbour		2001	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	No	Line officially closed in 2014
IBM		2018	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Opened to serve a large facility owned by IBM that employed 4,000 at the time of opening but today much of the site has been sold off to other companies.
Manchester United Football Ground		2018	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	Yes	Built outside of the Old Trafford stadium and was only open on match days. Service suspended since 2018
Meadowbank Stadium		1998	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Opened to serve the Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh
Newhaven Marine		2006	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	No	Served the Ferry Terminal but closed due to more people using cars and the closeness of Newhaven Harbour station. Officially closed 2020.
New Holland Pier		1981	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	No	Was built the serve the ferry service over the Humber to Hull. Closed when the Humber bridge opened and the ferry service ceased.	[8]
Ramsline Halt		1997	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Served the Baseball Ground, Derby but closed when Derby County F.C. moved to a new stadium
Redcar British Steel		2019	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Built to serve the nearby Teesside Steelworks site. Services suspended in 2019.
Rowntree Halt		1988	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Opened for the workers who worked at the Rowntree's factory in York. Officially closed in 1989.
Ruddington Factory Halt		1948	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	Built to serve the Ruddington Ordnance & Supply Depot	[9]
Tilbury Riverside		1992	Yes	?	?	No	Yes	No		[10]
Sinfin North		1993	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Served the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby. Not officially closed until 1998, with a replacement taxi service being provided in the interim.
Stanlow and Thornton		2022	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Built to serve Stanlow Oil Refinery. Service has been suspended since February 2022[11]
Wadsley Bridge		1996	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Lost its regular service in 1956 but continued to be served by football specials until 1996	[12][13]
Watford Stadium Halt		1996	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Served Vicarage Road, the home stadium of Watford F.C., was only open on match days, saw its last train when a road widening scheme severed the line, and was officially closed in 2003	[14]
Weymouth Quay		1987	Yes	No	?	No	Yes	No	Visited by one-off charter service in 1999	[15]

Notes

In the case of a station which was at some point special-purpose, but is not now (or was not at some point in its life), the criteria refer to when the station was special-purpose.

References

"South West Trains > Improved services at new-look Kempton Park". 23 February 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009.
Colin Maggs (2016). "3: Stations". Maggs's Railway Curiosities. Amberley. p. 95 - Hospital and Other Special Stations. ISBN 9781445652665.
"Lympstone Commando Railway Station - a Freedom of Information request to Ministry of Defence". WhatDoTheyKnow. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
"Disused Stations: Aintree Racecourse Station".
Croughton, G.; Kidner, R.W.; Young, A. (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations. Trowbridge, Wilts: Oakwood Press. p. 124. ISBN 0-85361-281-1.
"Disused Stations: Angling Club Cottage Halt".
"Hull City | Club | Boothferry Park | A History of Boothferry Park". 13 February 2010. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.
"Disused Stations: New Holland Pier Station".
"Disused Stations: Ruddington Factory Halt".
"Disused Stations: Tilbury Riverside Station".
"National Rail Enquiries - Station facilities for Stanlow & Thornton".
"Disused Stations: Wadsley Bridge Station".
"Wadsley Bridge Railway Station - then & Now".
"Watford to Croxley Green - West Watford History Group". Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
"'Olympic' train line may be lost". 30 January 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

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[1] In the case of a station which was at some point special-purpose, but is not now (or was not at some point in its life), the criteria refer to when the station was special-purpose.

[2] "South West Trains > Improved services at new-look Kempton Park". 23 February 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009.

[Maggs-3] Colin Maggs (2016). "3: Stations". Maggs's Railway Curiosities. Amberley. p. 95 - Hospital and Other Special Stations. ISBN 9781445652665.

[FOIreq-4] "Lympstone Commando Railway Station - a Freedom of Information request to Ministry of Defence". WhatDoTheyKnow. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2021.

[5] "Disused Stations: Aintree Racecourse Station".

[Private-6] Croughton, G.; Kidner, R.W.; Young, A. (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations. Trowbridge, Wilts: Oakwood Press. p. 124. ISBN 0-85361-281-1.

[7] "Disused Stations: Angling Club Cottage Halt".

[8] "Hull City | Club | Boothferry Park | A History of Boothferry Park". 13 February 2010. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.

[9] "Disused Stations: New Holland Pier Station".

[10] "Disused Stations: Ruddington Factory Halt".

[11] "Disused Stations: Tilbury Riverside Station".

[12] "National Rail Enquiries - Station facilities for Stanlow & Thornton".

[13] "Disused Stations: Wadsley Bridge Station".

[14] "Wadsley Bridge Railway Station - then & Now".

[15] "Watford to Croxley Green - West Watford History Group". Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2018.

[16] "'Olympic' train line may be lost". 30 January 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

Special-purpose railway stations in the United Kingdom
Current	Lympstone Commando Smallbrook Junction Stanlow and Thornton
Former	Aintree Racecourse Ardeer Platform Bogside Boothferry Park Halt Filey Holiday Camp Folkestone Harbour IBM Manchester United Football Ground Meadowbank Stadium Newhaven Marine New Holland Pier Ramsline Halt Redcar British Steel Rowntree Halt Ruddington Factory Halt Sinfin North Tilbury Riverside Watford Stadium Halt Weymouth Quay