The station was opened on 7 August 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). Until 1907 the spelling of the station name was Blyth Bridge.[1] The station buildings were demolished in the early 1990s and today it is unstaffed.
In 2010 it won East Midlands Trains' Best Small Station award.[3]
Blythe Bridge had at one time two signal boxes, Blythe Bridge and Stallington, both of which controlled level crossings, which was a common feature across the former NSR.
Blythe Bridge signal box was opened by the NSR in 1884 on their Derby to Stoke line. The box was built to a standard McKenzie & Holland design and under the S.R.S. designation system is referred to as a MKH Type1.
The signal box was equipped with a standard McKenzie & Holland lever frame and a gate wheel for operating the level crossing gates which controlled traffic on the busy former A50. These gates were later replaced by a barrier crossing when traffic got too heavy for the signalman.
Blythe Bridge signal box finally closed in 1980 and the level crossing was converted to CCTV control with the barriers supervised by Caverswall signal box.
On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is generally served by an hourly service westbound to Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent and eastbound to Newark Castle via Derby and Nottingham.[4] During the late evenings, services terminate at Nottingham instead of Newark Castle.
On Sundays, the station is served by an hourly service between Crewe and Derby only although no trains operate before 14:00.