Shippea Hill is 77 miles 17 chains (77.21 miles, 124.26 km) from London Liverpool Street via Cambridge, in one of the few areas within Burnt Fen which rises above sea level. The station is on the A1101 road between Littleport and Mildenhall.
It has been noted for its low patronage. In 2015/16, only twelve passenger entries/exits were recorded at the station. It is only served by one train per day in one direction on weekdays, with one in both directions on Saturdays and none on Sundays.
History
The station was opened on 30 July 1845 as Mildenhall Road. It was renamed Burnt Fen in 1885 and Shippea Hill in 1904.[1]
On 7 April 1906, a passenger train 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 southwest 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 southeast onto the Chivers Estate.
On 3 December 1976, at about 16:00, a passenger train collided with a lorry on an unmanned level crossing near Shippea Hill. The train driver, Robert Hitcham, was killed, and eight passengers were injured.[3]
Until 1987, there was a daily through train to London Liverpool Street from Norwich and return.
The wooden level crossing gates at Shippea Hill used to be operated manually by the signaller in the local signal box. In 2012, the signal box was closed and the crossing gates were replaced with automatic barriers and warning lights.
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, Ian Cumming, a finalist from The Great British Bake Off attracted at least 16 people to the station by handing out free mince pies.[9]
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 twelve trains a day called in each direction, and it was used as a railhead for the airbases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath.
Geoff Marshall and Vicki Pipe featured the station on their YouTube channel All the Stations, which catalogued their attempt to visit all currently operating railway stations in Great Britain. In Episode 17, on 3 June 2017, they started their day at Shippea Hill and, with a group of 19 friends plus three unrelated genuine passengers, they almost doubled the 12-passenger total from 2015/16 in one day.[10]
Services
As of February 2023[update], on weekdays the station is served by one train per day (in the morning peak) to Norwich departing at 07:26.[11]
On Saturdays there a service to Norwich departing at 07:47, and one train to Stansted Airport departing at 16:15.
There is no Sunday service.
Despite being one stop down the line from Lakenheath, there is no direct train between the two stations.
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