Bentham railway station

Bentham
Bentham station
Location
Place	High Bentham
Local authority	Craven
Coordinates
Grid reference	SD667689
Operations
Station code	BEN
Managed by	Northern Rail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	15,449
2005/06	15,924
2006/07	16,535
2007/08	20,585
2008/09	18,248
2009/10	19,162
2010/11	20,210
2011/12	25,014
2012/13	24,604
2013/14	24,094
2014/15	22,832
History
Original company	"Little" North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
1 June 1850	Opened as Bentham
1 November 1851	Renamed Bentham High
1 May 1876	Renamed Bentham
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bentham from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bentham railway station in 1962

Bentham railway station serves the small town of High Bentham in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Leeds to Morecambe Line, between Wennington and Clapham. It is the nearest station to Ingleton, North Yorkshire.

History

The station was opened on 2 May 1850 by the "little" North Western Railway, later taken over by the Midland Railway. During part of the 19th century, it was known as Bentham High as the neighbouring settlement of Low Bentham also had its own station (although this only lasted for three years, being closed to passenger traffic in 1853).

The station building (built in 1955/56 after the original Midland structure was demolished by British Railways) is now privately owned, the station having been reduced to unstaffed halt status in October 1970. It has had its own community volunteer support group (The Friends of Bentham Station) since September 2011, which is based in the aforementioned building on the eastbound platform and has support from various local organisations (such as the route's Rail User Group, Craven District Council & the Leeds-Lancaster-Morecambe Line Community Rail Partnership).

Services

All services are operated by Northern Rail. There are five services each way on weekdays and Saturdays. Westbound, trains run to Wennington, Carnforth, Lancaster and Morecambe (including one through train to Heysham Port), whilst trains in the other direction run to Clapham, Giggleswick, Skipton and Leeds. Connections for Bradford Forster Square are available at Shipley, although through trains do operate occasionally if the line to Leeds is closed for engineering work.

On Sundays there are now four services in each direction throughout the year - prior to the May 2011 timetable change the two morning services from Leeds and their corresponding return workings ran only during the summer months. The new Northern Rail franchise (awarded to Arriva Rail North in December 2015 and due to begin April 2016) will see further service & rolling stock improvements implemented. These include the addition of two extra weekday and one Sunday train each way (likely in December 2017), timetable alterations to give better journey opportunities for commuters to both Leeds and Lancaster and the removal of "Pacer" DMUs from the route by 2019.

References

• Bairstow, M. (2000), The 'Little' North Western Railway, Martin Bairstow, Leeds, ISBN 1-871944-21-X
• Dewick, T. (2002), Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, ISBN 0-7110-2798-6

External links

• Train times and station information for Bentham railway station from National Rail
• Friends of Bentham Station - Station support group's Home Page

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Clapham		Northern Rail Leeds to Morecambe Line		Wennington
	Historical railways
Clapham		Midland Railway "Little" North Western Railway		Low Bentham