The Attractive Ruins of Lilbourne Railway Station

By comparison to many of the abandoned railway stations we’ve featured on Urban Ghosts, the remains of Lilbourne station may appear like little more than a ruined rural platform. But there’s something undeniably photogenic about the above scene, which shows a double track-bed turned vehicle access and a short country platform slowly returning to nature. Lilbourne station in Northamptonshire, England, opened on the Rugby and Stamford Railway on May 1, 1850. It began as a single track and was later doubled in 1878 due to passenger demand. When the 1923 grouping led to the establishing of “The Big Four of the New Railway Era”, the Rugby and Stamford came under the control of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). Lilbourne station remained opened until 1966, closing in the same decade that many rural stations and branch lines faced the dreaded Beeching Axe. The railway station gave its name to the nearby RAF Lilbourne airfield, a First World War Royal Flying Corps station that was home to the Sopwith Camels of No. 73 Squadron.