The line and station were built by the Midland Railway. The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders.[1] They were opened for passenger traffic on 1 June 1875. When the line opened two railway companies provided services through Whitwell:
The Midland Railway (MR) ran three trains a day from Mansfield through Whitwell, which then turned right at Woodend Junction to Worksop, as all Robin Hood Line trains do now. They then continued on to Retford.
Over time the direct Mansfield-Whitwell-Sheffield service was diverted to Worksop. From 1 October 1905, the MR took over all services and ran them all to Worksop, where passengers for Sheffield could change trains.[2] This core service continued until closure for passenger traffic in October 1964, though freight traffic continued. The station[3][4] was dismantled and rebuilt, brick by brick, at the heritage railway at Butterley in 1981.
The line reopened in stages through the 1990s, with the final, northernmost, section from Mansfield Woodhouse through Whitwell to Worksop reopening in 1998. The modern Whitwell station is on the original site, but a wholly new structure.
The station
The station is located on the edge of the village, beside the quarry. It consists of two platforms, with the Nottingham-bound one having to be reached via a footbridge.
On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is generally served by a train every two hours northbound to Worksop and southbound to Nottingham via Mansfield Woodhouse.[5]
There is currently no Sunday service at the station since the previous service of four trains per day was withdrawn in 2011. Sunday services at the station are due to recommence at the station during the life of the East Midlands franchise.[6]
^"Notes by the Way". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
