Ambergate station is just North of the Ambergate junction, a junction of the Midland Main Line and the Derwent Valley Line in Derbyshire between Belper and Whatstandwell.
In EMT days, 153 326 arrives at Ambergate
Information
Type:
National Rail (Derwent Valley Line)
Station code:
AMB
Opened:
1840
Platforms:
1
Originally opened in 1840 by the North Midland Railway, the station has been moved a couple of times, in 1863 and 1876 [1]. This last move included a major rebuilding and Ambergate became one of only a small number of triangular stations in the country with platforms serving the Midland Main and Derwent Valley Lines and a short link between them.
Once a busy and important junction, the station declined in importance in the 1960s and 1970s with the cessation of stopping services along the Midland Main Line and the closure of these platforms. Now only a platform on the Derwent Valley Line remains. The station was listed for total closure by Beeching but has survived in this reduced state. It became unstaffed in 1968 and the station buildings, and all but one platform, were demolished in 1970 [2].
Nowadays, Ambergate is a basic unmanned station with a bus shelter and a ticket machine. Ambergate is currently served and managed by East Midland Railway services between Matlock and Nottingham or Newark Castle via Derby. The line from Ambergate to Matlock is single, a token must be obtained from a cabinet on the platform before heading South and rejoining the main line [3].
Basic station facilities
Station entrance, the platform is on an embankment
Station sign
Train approaching
EMT 153 326 heads away from Ambergate
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Ambergate to Mansfield (Middleton Press, 2020) Map. IV
[2] Ibid. Fig. 5
[3] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Ambergate to Buxton (Middleton Press, 2019) Fig. 5
