Visiting Dullingham and its unique level crossing including an exclusive interview with the man in charge of the level crossing
Location: Approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Dullingham village, near the Suffolk border. It’s also the nearest rail access point for Haverhill (~9 miles away) .
• Operator & Code: Managed by Greater Anglia; station code DUL, classified as DfT category F2 .
• Platforms & Layout: Two platforms with a manually operated level crossing and a signal box embedded in a passing loop on the single-track section between Cambridge and Chippenham Junction. Most services use Platform 2, with rare use of Platform 1—usually only early morning Ipswich-bound trains crossing Cambridge services .
⸻
⏱ Services & Frequency
• Services run on the Ipswich–Ely line via Cambridge and Newmarket, typically by Greater Anglia using Class 755 units .
• There’s usually one stopping train every 2 hours, with alternating hours where trains skip the station—except on Sundays, when most services call at both Dullingham and Kennett .
• Travel time to Cambridge is around 17–19 minutes, with approximately 11 trains daily in each direction. Fares from Dullingham to Cambridge start at £6.80 when booked in advance .
⸻
🏗 Facilities & Accessibility
• Ticketing: No staffed ticket office; a ticket machine is available. Smartcards can be topped up and validated on-site, but not issued .
• Parking & Bicycles: Free car park (about 12 spaces) and sheltered cycle storage with 28 racks—no CCTV coverage .
• Help Points: Available on Platform 2 in between the signal box and level crossing. Step-free access is provided from Station Road to both platforms, but due to platform dimensions, onboard ramps cannot be used .
• Staffing: The station is unstaffed; passengers requiring assistance (boarding, luggage, ticketing) should pre-book via the Turn-Up-and-Go (TUAG) service up to 2 hours before travel .
⸻
📊 Passenger Usage
• In 2023–24, approximately 28,974 passenger entries/exits were recorded, well below its peak of ~45,812 in 2015–16. Journeys to Cambridge account for about 76% of usage (~22,030 journeys) .
⸻
🌿 Unique Station Features
• Dullingham is noted for a pond on the platform and has a vibrant community-led greening scheme. Four upcycled-door murals were recently installed, as part of the WildEast initiative promoting biodiversity across East Anglia stations .
• The signal box and level crossing gates remain manually operated, one of the few such setups still in regular use. Trains must coordinate crossing via this loop, making it a heritage point of interest 
So, welcome to the second lease station in East Cambridge here, Darlingham. And this this is a first here. There is the very old-fashioned the very very old-fashioned um double crossings. Somebody actually gets out. There’s a person works in that box up there and actually closes the gates. Um, it’s actually impressive and especially a train coming. Oh, come st this is this is the station car park. Seems to be a train coming from down there. Yeah, he’ll get out and he’ll he literally close he literally closed the gates. His car has to wait now. Let’s wait for the uh train to come. I think I think the train is actually on the platform here in the rural sticks of East Cambridge here. This is a Darlingham signal box. Looks so oldfashioned. Nobody here. Look, not one person. Well, until the train comes, let’s explore the station. Onward travel information for start. Absolutely nothing is here. You can hear the trainer distance rumbling down the track. You can hear that now. We are here on the map. Um just on this line here between Cambridge and Kennet. So this is Dingham. And there’s the train. Here’s a train coming. What a good place to get a train spotting here. It’s one of these fast trains. It’s very interesting. This is a fast train using this platform train. That’s very strange cuz usually the trains using that platform. And now the guy is going to come out and he’s going to reopen the level crossing. When’s the next train going to be passing? Uh about 20 minutes. Wow. So every 20 minutes trains come and he comes down and he opens the gates. That’s his job. The guy works at Ballingham station, does the uh gates for you. He’s opening it now. The cars can go. Look at that. Oldfashioned. Very oldfashioned gates. And there you have it. Now the car can drive across. That is so oldfashioned. Here we got the permanent travel machine bike rack. And if we go to the other end, you’ve got the uh information board again. So what we didn’t see in Kennet, we got to see in Darlingham. This is Darlingham station. I’ve already shown you where we are on the map. Uh train times. I wonder how many trains it gets today. So Mondays to Fridays. 607 719 757 923 1122 1322 1322 1723 1922 2122 and 2223 That’s that’s the last train Saturday 612 this is going towards Peter sorry 612 or to Cambridge 7:23 8:23 9:22 there trains on a Saturday believe not and it’s 11:22 too. For some reason, my camera’s gone a bit weird and fuzzy. Uh 1322, 1522, 1723, 1922, 2122, and 23 23 on a Sunday. 8:35, 919, 11:21, 1321, 15 21, 1721, 9:21, and 224. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eight trains on a Sunday and the same on Monday to Friday going backwards to London. Exactly the same time trains. Basically what what Kenneet had Darlingham has as well. This is this is so rural. And before we go onto Shippy Hill, the passenger statistics for Dingham station are as follows. 28,974 people used this last year. 80 a day. Well, nobody on this platform at the moment. Nobody. So, one more station to go. And that is the favorite of the lot. Shippy Hill. See you when I get Shippy Hill very, very soon. That was Dingham, the second east station in East Cambridge here. Please like and please subscribe.
1 Comment
In before the channel blows up.
See you at shippy hill!