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LINE PLAN   Leicester   Melton Mowbray   Oakham   Stamford   Peterborough   March   Ely   Cambridge Wheels: LC. If you're on wheels, see our Easy Access page for explanation. August 2005: Melton Mowbray in the early evening with the platform swept clear of passengers by a recent train. Routes covered by Dudley Mall are listed at the bottom of this page.

LEICESTER Over time Leicester has had four stations, but the Midland Railway-built station in London Road now handles all the traffic. It sports its original frontage with a covered arrival shed for horse and carriage traffic, now used for taxis and picking up and setting down. The station concourse has a ticket office, cafe, bookseller & newsagent and a current trains electronic display. Beyond is a level approach to the passenger overbridge, then steps down to two island platforms with waiting rooms and other facilities, all covered by extensive canopies. Another overbridge at the northern end of the platforms links to a car park with about 180 places and a daily rate (in May 2003) of £6. Access for wheeled users wasn't obvious, but there are lifts linking the platforms, and a ramp up to the arrival shed which suggests it serves for parcels handling and disabled needs on request. Incidentally, you'll notice a pedestrian crossing indicated outside the station. If you want to cross London Road, use it and live longer. Wheels: LC. Leicester also serves the Birmingham to Leicester line and the Nottingham to Bedford line.

MELTON MOWBRAY station is just south of the town centre and hard against the River Wreake. The station road is a signed fork off Burton Street (A606) that allows a near-level approach to the station. The approach has a level crossing but only for siding traffic and it may not cause much nuisance. About 60 parking spaces are available (£2.50 per day in 2007). The station buildings are seen at left, and the photo at the top of the page gives a view down the platforms from the Leicester end. The mellow and attractive original station survives with a ticket office open early morning to early evening (midday to mid-evening on Sundays). There are no waiting rooms, but both platforms have canopies with seats below them. The platforms are linked by a footbridge, but there is also a barrow crossing that wheelchairs can use. Take care with this, not only for the trains but also because at the time of our August 2005 visit, the end of the Cambridge platform was a bit ragged. Wheels: LC.

OAKHAM Part of the main station building on the Cambridge side has been transferred to the StudentForce community group, but the ticket office remains open from early morning to lunchtime (Sunday midday to mid-evening). There is no waiting room, but the foyer may serve that purpose when it is open, and canopy shelter is available outside. There is level access from here to the platform, and through a gateway near the level crossing end of the platform. The stepped passenger overbridge is the only link between the platforms other than going round by the level crossing. The Leicester-bound platform has a brick-built open-front shelter combined with what looks like a waiting room but apparently isn't. This platform does not have level access, but there is a ramp for wheeled users that comes directly into the shelter. The station has free parking for approximately 30 cars, some on each side of the tracks, but no disabled spaces are reserved. Wheels: LC Photo: evening sunlight on the platform side of the main building, April 2006. But the roofline view from the overbridge is more striking - like Topsy, the station just growed.

STAMFORD station lies just south of the river from the town centre, and its architecture is certainly unusual - the main building looking like a cross between a church, a small section of an ancient university college, and a rather Scottish-looking hotel, while the large canopied space on the other platform may well be the only surviving example of its design. There are no waiting rooms, but plenty of canopy cover on both sides and a reasonable supply of seating beneath it. The two platforms are linked by an overbridge. A boarded barrow crossing at the Leicester (western) end of the station by the signal box did allow a route for wheelchairs, but this was closed for a time. Local pressure on the railway seems to have reversed this situation in 2007, with the crossing open again but protected by warning lights, etc. The ticket office is open from early morning until lunchtime during the week and early lunchtime until early evening on Sundays. There is parking outside, but we don't know how much and whether it is free or charged for. We suspect that the station is easy to find, but can't be sure, and we cannot give a Wheels rating until we have visited the station for ourselves.

PETERBOROUGH We have not yet visited Peterborough, and don't have enough information to write an adequate description or produce a reasonable plan as yet. What we can say is that it is a modernised and important station on the East Coast Main line with approximately five platforms, and we believe (but have not confirmed) that full wheeled access is available.

MARCH We have not yet visited March Station, so notes here are based on 3rd party sources. March is on the northern edge of the town, and half the size that it was in its heyday, following the closure of the Wisbech line. However, the trackbed and platforms are still in situ for this and may eventually be used for a heritage line. Current services use platforms 1 and 2, whose buildings and full canopies were freshly painted in or shortly before 2004, though the footbridge may have missed out. The ticket office is staffed from early morning to early evening (except Sunday), and there are two waiting rooms. The station has stepfree access, though not all doors are wide enough for wheelchairs, and the wheelchair access to platform 2 appears to be a path from the road near the signal box to a point near the footbridge. Outside the station building there is parking for 5 cars, costing £1 per day in 2007. Wheels: LC. The south-looking photo shows the overbridge, the access ramp to its left on the middle platform, and the signal box and level crossing in the distance. Photo courtesy Owen Dunn - more photos here.

ELY Ely station lies east of the city centre on the A142, at the point where it elbows sharply down towards the south east, becomes Bridge Road, and hops over the Great Ouse. Indeed there are (briefly) two roads in parallel here - the older road still forced to need a level crossing but useful for awkward loads, and a newer one that dives below the track to avoid delays at the gates. Like its fellow cathedral city, City of Wells, Ely was once a centre of importance, but failed to grow as other cities did, so the railway is about half a mile from the city centre, yet virtually on the city edge. Many of Ely's inhabitants commute to Cambridge and the car park has 100+ pay and display spaces, 20 minute parking, and drop-off points. The station buildings have been modernised or renewed, but still offer good shelter and snack facilities, and the 3-track platforms are linked by a ramped underpass. Most of it has a clean fresh look, and so far as we noted it has no access problems apart from the car park having several levels. Wheels: LC. The level crossing lies just beyond the Norwich-bound train in platform 1. Note that the line from Leicester joins the line from Norwich and comes in from the east end of Ely station, which is why the plan's orientation differs from the earlier ones above.

CAMBRIDGE Station not yet visited, and we were unable to trace enough information to create a temporary entry. Sorry! Wheels: Unknown . Cambridge also serves the Ipswich to Cambridge line and the Norwich to Cambridge line

Routes and Resources Table: Front Information Page Birmingham All-Stations Map   Central Region Routes Map Full Routes Scroll Map Stations A-Z       Birmingham New Street Station Birmingham - Cheltenham & Bristol Birmingham - Coventry & London Euston Birmingham - Derby & Nottingham Birmingham - Kidderminster & Worcester Birmingham - Leamington Spa Birmingham - Leicester Birmingham - Lichfield Birmingham - Redditch & Worcester Birmingham - Rugeley Birmingham - Stratford-upon-Avon Bristol - Exeter Cheltenham Spa - Cardiff Chester - Hereford & Cardiff Chester - Llandudno Crewe - Shrewsbury Crewe & Stoke - Wolverhampton & Birmingham Derby & Nottingham - Bedford & London Ipswich - Cambridge & Norwich Leamington Spa - London Leamington Spa - Oxford Leicester - Cambridge Lowestoft - Ipswich Manchester - Crewe via M. Airport Manchester - Crewe via Stockport Norwich - Cambridge Norwich - Great Yarmouth Norwich - Lowestoft Norwich - Sheringham Nottingham - Grantham Oxford - Bicester Shrewsbury - Llandrindod Stafford - Rugby via Trent Valley Stoke-on-Trent - Derby       Walsall - Shrewsbury Worcester - Hereford Worcester - Oxford

Please note: the notes and sketches are intended only to give a general impression, and should not be relied upon for more than that. Dudley Mall accepts no liability for errors, but will correct any significant ones notified to us through dudleymall@dudleymall.co.uk or by post to Dudley Mall, 62 Gervase Drive, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 4AT.

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